


A Hint of Magic

by zukiria



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Blood, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Rating May Change, Warnings May Change, how do you tag omg, non-binary characters, written for the 2015 NaNoWriMo challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-05-03 18:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5301713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zukiria/pseuds/zukiria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mihashi wants to escape, Tajima has a secret, Abe doesn't know what is happening, and the coven needs new members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [bell, book, and candle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766450) by [skittidyne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skittidyne/pseuds/skittidyne). 



> Hey, hey, hey!! Ria here!~ (◡‿◡✿)  
> This is my first time writing for this fandom, but i had this idea for a long time and i really liked it so i just went with it  
> This turned out to be a monster of a fic, but I think I'll be updating quite fast for a while, so please bear with me  
> This fic was heavily inspired by [bell, book, and candle](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3766450/chapters/8366794) by the lovely [skittidyne](http://archiveofourown.org/users/skittidyne/pseuds/skittidyne) so definitely go check out that amazing fic if you're in the Haikyuu!! fandom!

It was a clouded afternoon, dark skies that blocked the sun, and yet not enough to threaten rain. The air felt heavy in his lungs as Mihashi Ren carried his suitcase through the train station entrance, huffing and puffing as he attempted to carry the large bag to his new apartment.  It wasn’t too far from the station, but the case had all of his belongings, and while they weren’t that many, it was still heavy, his arms protested from the exercise, cursing the fact that he couldn’t use magic in public.

After walking the measly five blocks that separated the station from his new home, he entered the old looking building and deflated looking at the stairs he’d have to climb to get to apartment one hundred.

Once the tempestuous hike up the four blocks of stair, Mihashi found himself before an old wooden door with a plastic “100” announcing his apartment number. With a final wince, pushing the suitcase to rest against the wall, he dug inside his coat pocket for the keys to the rusted-looking door knob, twisting the lock and pushing it open when he found them in the bottom of his pocket along with an old, very wrinkled candy wrapper.

Stepping inside his new home was less than exciting.

The apartment wasn’t modern, the wallpaper was peeling and the wooden floor creaked when you stepped in certain places, there were drafts in the windows and the furniture looked worn down. But the rent was cheap, and even with all of its flaws, it was still better than what he had back at Mihoshi; at the very least, in here he could be calm and safe to practice his magic without the judgemental stares of his old coven-mates. It had been scary at first, the possibility of moving out of the safe zone that was Mihoshi, leaving behind everything he once knew and the place he’d called for so many years home, and yet, as time passed and the hostility from the other members of the coven grew even bigger, the thought of leaving his old school and default coven seemed every time better, and he longed with the chance to be free and scape from the walls that seemed to crush him down every time he tried using his magic.

It was also a great way to stop being a burden to everyone else.

And so, he took the very first chance to leave after his training was over. And if he looked back once or twice to see the relief flashing across the faces of his old coven, then that made his determination to leave even stronger.

Locking the door behind himself, he pulled his large suitcase towards the middle of the room, right before the run down couch and sat with a huff. He closed his eyes for a second, feeling the ache in the muscles all over his body and willed himself to relax in the silent apartment. After a few minutes, he hummed and sat up again, leaning down to undo the clasp on his case and sitting back upright while it opened. Sure, he couldn’t cast a spell on it to make it lighter or easier to carry since the guards at the Mihoshi perimeter would have noticed and it was forbidden to make magic that could be perceived by normal humans, but he could tinker around the inside of the trunk while he was still in his room, and even if the spells to make the inside of something bigger were supposed to be a grade above his current level of magic, they weren’t that hard to use, and he took extra care to make it as invisible as it could be while storing all of his belongings inside.

He blinked owlishly as the trunk finished unravelling, occupying now a little more than half its original size and revealing just how much magic was needed to store his bed, garden, kitchen and bathroom supplies as well as his clothes, potion and magic supplies and books.

Leaning down again, he inspected his books to make sure they were all in there before he stretched in the couch and got up with a hop, taking out his jacket and rummaging through the side of his books to find the piece of charcoal he used to draw the rune for _lift_ and _float_ in the back and the palm of his right hand respectively.  Once they were completed, he stretched his right arm forward, index finger pointed upwards and the back of his hand pointed towards the bottom of the trunk. Clearing his throat a bit, he pressed two fingers of his left hand to his forearm to make his magic stronger and focused on projecting it from his fingertips.

“Bed” he commanded and the furniture sprung out of the case and remained in front of him. Carefully moving his arm, the bed followed his movement and he placed it to the side of the couch. Walking around it, he placed his left hand in the door frame to his bedroom and drew the rune for _stretch_ with his right hand. As soon and both his hands left the wood, it gave an ominous creak and expanded, leaving enough room for his bed to fit through. Pointing his palm towards the bed, he pressed both fingers in his forearm again.

“Up” and the bunk promptly raised in the air, following the movement of his arm as he guided it through the doorway and placed it in the bedroom. Once the bed was settled, he went back into the living room and made the same procedure with his wardrobe and desk, settling them all in the bedroom and casting a small spell that would organise his clothes and tend the bed while he unpacked the rest of his things.  

Floating box after box of kitchen supplies out of his trunk, he commanded them to float all at once towards the kitchen, and started organising everything  himself, since he rather know where everything was when he used the kitchen, occasionally supervising the clothes folding and storing in their own through the expanded bedroom door.

Once he got everything done, he floated the bathroom items out of his trunk and carried them to the bathroom, putting them quickly into their right place and going back to the living room, floating a broom out of his trunk and casting a spell on it to clean the apartment while he set his garden in the window. When he finished making sure all his plants were fine and thoroughly watered, he turned around to find the enchanted broom now sweeping the bedroom, so he walked towards the trunk and floated out his book shelf, carefully so that none of his books would fall on the floor. 

When he was certain he’d gotten everything out of the trunk, he shrunk it back to its normal size and wheeled it to his bedroom, placing it in a corner while he watched the different cloths and dusters he’d enchanted to clean the place file out towards the kitchen cabinet he’d designated for the cleaning supplies when they finished their job. As soon as the last of the cloths went back into the cabinet, he closed it and surveyed his new home. With the windows open, the breeze making the curtains flutter and the last of the sunrays illuminating his apartment, he smiled and plopped down on the couch, putting his feet on top of the blanket in the cushion and crossing his arms under his head to make a pillow.

He could get used to call this his home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey, hey!!!  
> I'm back with the second chapter! New characters in this one!  
> This is totally unbeta'ed, please point out any mistakes you find and i'll fix them right away!  
> Please enjoy!~

Abe was confused.

No, scratch that. Abe was fucking pissed.

This was the fourth time in a week that he’d been chased by some weird, horrid-looking monster thingy, and he did not appreciate having to run for his life after his classes at university. Nope, he did not sign up for this, so why the hell did they keep coming after him?!

And while he was at it, what the fucking hell were they?!

 _I am so done with all of this_ , he thought as he sprinted down the desert street, his bag bouncing uncomfortably against his hip and the strap rubbing his shoulder painfully through his clothes.

He made a sharp turn at a street corner, sprinting now through the avenue instead of the shady alley he’d been crossing as a shortcut to his apartment. He was so tired after the gruelling classes he’d had that day, he hadn’t even remembered the possibility of being attacked when walking down the dark alleyway.  Lowering his pace a bit as he saw a convenience store a few meters ahead, he took the chance to get his phone out of his pocket and without looking called the first number in his speed dial.

“Hello?” his roommate answered after the fifth tone.

“Hanai, where are you right now?!” he grunted, picking his pace back up, leaving the light of the convenience store behind.

“Abe, what the hell? Why are you panting like that?” Hanai ignored his question.

“I’m being chased by one of these weird assholes, where are you?!”

“I’m at home! Where are you?!” the other boy seemed panicked now, and Abe panted a bit before replying.

“About two blocks from the apartment. ‘M trying to lose it, don’ wanna lead it to our place”

“Yeah, that’s good, but don’t kill yourself trying to do that, if you can’t lose it soon then just come here and we’ll both deal with it somehow”

“Yeah, I’ll do that, gonna run a last lap though, I haven’ seen it in a few minutes so maybe I did lose it”

“Good, are you running in the avenue?” Hanai asked, his voice a bit distorted.

“Yeah, thought the lights might scare it off faster. Seems to have worked till now” Abe glanced backwards once more, no sign of the awful octopus-green-looking dog “Yeah, think I lost it. ‘M goin’ back now.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you outside, how far are you?” Hanai asked, and movement could be heard from his side of the line, footsteps and then a door closing.

“About three minutes now, I’m still runnin’ though, so maybe less”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll be right there. Hurry it up”

“No shit” Abe managed to grunt before the line went dead. He managed to pocket his phone without losing speed, and even though he was panting hard, he picked up his pace again, and soon after he could see their apartment building.

As he got closer, he could see a figure through the glass doors, which quickly turned into Hanai, the taller boy opening the door when Abe got closer, and he dashed through it, turning his body and sliding through the floor to avoid crashing into the opposite wall. He thanked his years of baseball in high school for the athletic reflexes.

As he lay there, panting on the floor, he hear a door closing and quick footsteps approaching him until he saw Hanai peering down at him.

“You okay?” the shaven headed boy asked him and Abe snorted.

“Perfectly fine, never been better” he replied while attempting to raise one of his arms to put on his chest. His whole body felt like lead.

“Yeah, you’re fine if you can be a dick. Can you stand up though? For real this time” Hanai grinned a bit.

“Yeah, I think so” taking a last deep breath, he sat up leaning on his elbows, Hanai quickly helping him up and then into the elevator. Thank the heavens for elevators. As the taller one pressed the button for their floor, Abe leaned heavily against the metal surface of the elevator, resting his forehead to the cool surface.

“What was it this time?” Hanai asked, watching as the numbers changed according to the floor.

“Tell you in the apartment, there’s a camera here” Abe grumbled, shifting to look at the other.

“Oh! Yeah, right…” mumbling, the taller boy shifted, scratching his cheek in embarrassment while Abe frowned at him.

“Why are you wearing your glasses?” he asked, turning back to the heavenly cool metal.

“Izumi and Sakaeguchi were over a few minutes ago. We have a big test in philosophy and Izumi wanted help with English lit.” The elevator dinged as it opened in the seventh floor, and both boys quickly left the confined space “They already left, you missed them just barely” he added as he opened the third door on the right, apartment number 304.

“I see. Good thing they left, wouldn’t want them to see me coming in running for my life” Abe said as he went in and threw himself on the rather spacious couch. Hanai raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s not like they’ve never seen you like that though, remember the incident with the eating monster thing?”

“Oh, don’t remind me, that thing ate my backpack full of my baseball statistics. If it wasn’t because it was chasing me to eat me, I would’ve kicked its ass”

“Sure you would. Now put your feet down or at least take out your shoes, you’re getting the couch full of mud” the glasses boy chastised him as he walked towards the kitchen to start dinner.

“Yes, mom” Abe rolled his eyes and kicked of his sneakers, leaving them in a pile on the floor.

“Don’t you ‘yes, mom’ me or you’re not having any dinner” Hanai’s voice said from the kitchen along with the sounds of cabinets opening and closing “You should be thankful that I’m even going to make dinner in the first place, it was your turn to cook after all.”

Abe rested his head against the cushions “I can still do it, don’t complain that we’re eating instant ramen though.”

“Ugh, no thanks. I’ve eating too much instant ramen in this university year, I don’t want to see it for at least another year.”

“Yeah, okay, I’m going to take a shower then” Hanai only hummed as a reply, so Abe gathered all the strength left in his jelly-like muscles and stood up slowly, making his tired way to his bedroom to drop his bag and then into the bathroom, locking the door and starting the water to the maximum, steam quickly gathering in the small room. Undressing and tossing all of his clothes into the hamper, he stepped under the hot water, feeling the tension in his muscles evaporate along with the tiny droplets. Twenty minutes later he was leaving his room with a towel over his head, and he walked towards the kitchen just to see Hanai setting a plate of salad on the table.

“What’s with you and that excellent timing?” The taller asked as he turned around to stir something in a pot before placing it on two plates and carrying it to the table.

“I’m excellent in every way, of course I’d have a great timing” Abe replied as he picked up his fork and started shovelling the food to his mouth.

“Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that” Hanai said as he followed Abe’s example and started eating, albeit at a slower pace. They kept quiet for a while after that, the only sound in the apartment being that of the cutlery against the plates and the distant cheesy pop their upstairs neighbour liked to listen.

“Hey, Abe” Hanai said when most of the food in their plates had disappeared.

“Mhm?” Abe grunted, still too busy stuffing his face to form an actual sentence.

“I was thinking, you know, that maybe it’s time that we seek someone who actually knows what these things are, so that they can help us get rid of them” Abe paused at that, fork halfway to his mouth and eyebrows raised.

“And what makes you think now it’s the proper time, exactly?” he asked as he put his fork down and leaned back on the chair.

“It’s just that, they’ve been coming after us a lot more now, the frequency has increased. You got chased for the fourth time this week and I’m not too far off either. It’s only matter of time before they start chasing us everyday”

“I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s not like anything has happened to us until now, and we pretty much have a nice system going on-”

“That’s why I think so! We’ve been like this for years, Abe, since high school. And you said it yourself, nothing has happened to us until now, but we can’t be sure that nothing will happen tomorrow, or the day after or even right now.”

“It’s never happened before, it shouldn’t-”

“Yeah! But we both can agree that these last attacks haven’t exactly been normal. They have been way more often, and I think they have been more aggressive as well.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think we should. I mean, how on earth are we even going to find someone who can actually see these things? It’s been years and we have to yet find someone who can see them like us, never mind someone who knows how to get rid of them.”

“I’m sure if we just try to look-”

“No, Hanai. You know what’ll happen if we just start asking again. They’ll think we’re mad and I don’t know you, but I really rather that doesn’t happen. I don’t fancy having my parents talk to me about getting me psychological help again.”

“I know, it wasn’t that much better for me at the beginning too, but I feel like if we don’t do something now it might get even worse.” Abe sighed and pushed his hands through his hair. Sure, Hanai had a point, and he knew that that might actually be the best course of action, but deep down he was scared, scared of the judging faces of his teachers and the sad looks in his parents eyes when the school called them to talk about his “very wild imagination”. He remembered the hurt when no one believe them, and the scared face of his mom when he came home bloodied and bruised from falling too much when running, and the way she would try to stop him from being too long around his little brother, Shun, in fear that he might somehow hurt him. And so he’d stopped complaining, he’d run from the monster chasing him and when at home he’d clean his wounds on his own and pretend that it was just a childish lie.

He could see the relief in his parents faces when he stopped talking about it.

And then, at the beginning of high school he’d met Hanai, both of them together on the baseball club, and it’d happened one late evening after practice in which they were walking home together, when it sprung on them from the shadows of a nearby bushes. Both boys had frozen in fear, and it wasn’t until they were both running away, the grey mass of flesh quickly behind them, that they’d looked at each other and recognised the fear in the other’s eyes.

That night they’d gone to Hanai’s house since it was closer, and once Abe had called his mom to let her know that he’d be staying at a friend’s, they had locked themselves in Hanai’s room for the night, and talked about each and every single monster that had once chased them.

Abe remembered the relief of not being the only one that could see them, and the tears Hanai almost spilt when Abe say yes, he could see them too, he wasn’t crazy, the monsters were there.

Hanai sighed and got up to pick up the now empty dishes. “We don’t have to do it right now, but just… think about it, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll ask my pillow about it” Abe stretched as he got up and followed Hanai out of the kitchen, wishing him good night before going to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

 _Perhaps it’d be a good idea,_ He thought while he moved the brush in his mouth, he would certainly appreciate not having to run three miles after a full day of classes. Rinsing his mouth, he dried his face and quickly made his way to his bed, falling on it face-first.

Yeah, it wouldn’t be a bad idea at all, was his last thought before falling unconscious, too tired to even be bothered by the strong ache all over his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu at [tumblr](http://nishinoya-senpaai.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/_zukiria) you can ask me stuff about the fic or even talk to me if you want!!  
> Please leave a kudo and/or a comment if you like it  
> Criticism is always appreciated!  
> See you next time!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey, hey!!~  
> I'm back with a new chapter!! New characters in this one as well!  
> Thank you for your lovely comments, they really help with motivation to continue this fic (▰˘◡˘▰)  
> Also, if you haven't read the updated tags, there's a nonbinary character (or more (°∀°)) that's going to appear in this fic, so please be aware of that! Anything stated in this fic from this point onwards on this topic comes mostly from my own experiences as a nonbinary person, so if you see something that you think wouldn't work or/and feel that way, please don't hesitate to tell me!  
> And... i think that's all, enjoy the chapter!

It was still early in the morning, the sun had not yet even made its appearance in the horizon, and the plants were moist with dew. The birds chirping in the trees made for a nice background music as Tajima swung his bat over and over again in the back of his family’s house.

No one in the household had awoken yet, and the boy had used the instance to practice his batting skills in peace. It wasn’t that he actually needed them, but it was nice to do it, and exercising a bit couldn’t hurt, especially for such a hyperactive person like himself. And so, when he found himself panting awake after a nightmare, he decided that it was best to get some movement instead of going back to bed, since he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep anyway.

As he swung, he’d lost track of time, not focused on anything besides the weight of the bat in his hands and the movement of the muscle in his arms. He finally halted his motions when the sun hit his eyes, blinding him for a moment, making him turn around to get his sight out of harm’s way and blink rapidly in succession, catching in between blinks the fluttering of the grass where an invisible fox had been previously resting.

When the colorful spots stopped dancing in his vision, he whipped the sweat from his forehead and, resting his bat on the ground, started stretching all of his joints and muscles so that it wouldn’t hurt later. As he was finishing, he started hearing sounds coming from the house, and with a huff bent down to retrieve the bat and made his way to the back door.

Slipping through the wooden corridors, he quickly went into his bedroom and then into the bathroom, taking a quick shower to relieve the soreness in his back and to try to muffle the many sounds that were assaulting his brain every second, buzzing like angry bees trying to escape from his skull.

Once back in his room, he dressed in comfortable clothing and put little balls of cotton in his ears. It wasn’t like they would help that much, but he always felt safer with them on. That done, he braced himself and went out of his room and into the kitchen, where already all of his family was seated. As he grabbed some food for himself, he internally worked in reinforcing his mental walls, making it so that it would completely block the thoughts from everyone seated at the table. It was bad enough that he had to listen to everyone’s thoughts every time he went out, he could at least block his power when he was around his family, he didn’t need to know what they were thinking.

“Yuuichirou, are you doing anything today?” his mother asked him from across the table, and it took him a few moments to realize he was being addressed.

“Mmmh, no, not really. Why? Do you need something?” he grinned at her and his mother rolled her eyes at him.

“I do, actually. I want you to go into town and get me a few things I need to do something in the yard, do you think you could get them? It’s nothing too big, just a few tools, you should be able to carry them by yourself” His mother explained while pouring more coffee into her cup, pointedly setting the jar far from him when he followed the movement with his eyes.

“Sure thing! I’ll go right away” he stuffed his mouth with the rest of his breakfast and standing up, laughing a little when his mother chastised him for eating too fast.

“The money is on top of the coffee table!” his mother called after him as he left the kitchen, and he picked it up and pocketed it before going through the front door and closing it after him.

Once outside, he whistled a low tune, and promptly a fluttering of the grass and the soft sound of paws hitting wet earth announced the presence of a small, two tailed fox.

“Hey, Emi” he said as he kneeled down in front of the creature and took from his pocket a bit of bread he’d saved from breakfast, presenting it to the fox.

“Yuu” the ginger haired animal said before taking the bread from his hand and allowing him to pet her while she ate the small piece of food.

“I have to go into town now, do you wanna come with me?” he asked while petting her head and behind her ears.

“Mhh” the small fox pretended to think, but he could hear the excitement in her mind “will you feed me more human treats?” she asked finally and he grinned broadly.

“Of course”

“Then I’ll go with you” decided the fox and quickly finished her piece of bread before nimbly climbing onto his shoulder and settling behind his neck, her face beside his ear. He put a hand lightly onto her back as he stood up and started walking, whistling a cheery tune as he stomped through the forest paths, admiring the view that the early morning offered him.

* * *

The old house was filled with light and chatter, completely contradicting its possible outside appearance of a haunted abode, with its creaky woods and the ivy that covered most of the outer wall. The gardens wasn’t exactly tidy either, with long grasses and strange plants populating all available surface, even growing between the cracked stone path leading up to the heavy-looking door and climbing up the rusty old gate.

Now, if a normal person like any other would happen to walk outside and chance a glance at this particular house, two possible thoughts could pass through their minds: _“An abandoned house! So cool!”_  or _“A haunted house! Ghosts witches and goblins! Danger!”_ And while both assumptions were mostly wrong, the first one completely since the house was not abandoned, the unlucky person who’d guessed the latter and fled in fright had been almost right, since no, the house wasn’t hunted, but there had been a few incidents with ghosts through the years, and witches did live on it, but they had never had a gobbling infestation, they kept their garden clean and took care of all the plants, thank you very much.

This distinct dwelling was in fact the residence of witches, the Nishiura coven to be more specific, and it ran bigger and deeper than what was on simple sight of the normal passer-by, since it stretched downwards for kilometers and kilometers, totaling fifty five floors apart from the three that could be seen from the street, and it was built by the passing Nishiura generations. Once upon a time in which all fifty seven floors of it were buzzing with people, all the two hundred sleeping quarters of it hosting at least one witch, it was truly a vast settlement of magic in the region, with its own school for witches of young age, its own market that had the best ingredients and other things needed for magic and most importantly, although a bit far from human cities, it was the safest place for magic people.

This changed, however, when the advance in human technology became too great, and new magical places were established nearer the more technological cities, and the residents of the Nishiura coven moved to places more modern, taking with them the renown of said clan as the most powerful in the region. And so it came to be that only the coven members were left in the enormous building, sixty members that retired with the pass of time and the arrival of new students, until in the present time, the once great Nishiura coven now counts with seven members in total.

Said members are now running around the house, doing chores and chattering amicably in the three floors of the house, since they had left the underground level as to be closer to each other.

As Izumi swept the corridor on the third floor, they listened to the sounds of nature coming from the open window. The house was a respectable distance away from any major streets and the houses were few and separated by a long stretch of earth, and so it was easy to distinguish the cries from the different birds and insects, as well as the low murmuring of the magical animals that lived around the house, especially in a few trees near a stream of water that was located in the back of the property.

This time, for once, the very chatty water nymphs were quiet, and instead it was the normally quiet dryads that were making a lot of noise, their thoughts bordering on distressed. As soon as Izumi realized this, they paused in their movements and listened intently to their thoughts. A curtain of panic was present in all of their minds, but since they were so far away they could only distinguish a few words like “more” and “dark”. They frowned as they mulled over this, quickly coming to a decision that this was more important than sweeping, and gently lowered their broom to rest against the wall; they’d retrieve it later, right now they had to alert the coven leader, just in case this turned out to be bad news.

However, as they were descending the stairs towards the first floor where they knew the leader would be supervising the procedures of lunch, they felt a familiar tingling sensation running along their legs and upwards, and they didn’t even have time to warn anyone before the darkness enveloped their vision, and they felt themselves falling, sharp cries of “Izumi!” the only thing that registered in their muddled brain before losing total consciousness.

* * *

 

The dark alley smelt like wet concrete and something they couldn’t identify, and as they sat up slowly as to not to bother their throbbing head too much, they looked around their surroundings, and finally recognizing the part of town that they were in. It was a quiet one, not very transited and very much dangerous when walking alone on it at night, which incidentally was the time they’d ended up at. Quickly chancing a look at the sky, they were very thankful to see that the buildings they had woken up in between were not too tall, and they could perfectly see the moon hanging from the deep blue background, very glad to see that it was crescent waxing, which meant that whatever they were about to see had happened last night, and wasn’t a piece of the future (they never dealt well with those, it was too nerve wracking).

As they figured that whatever was going to happen wasn’t going to happen in that exact alley, they carefully made their way to where they could see a few flickering lights from the street lamps, picking up their pace when nothing sprung at their face.

Peering from the corner of the building on their right, they found an equally empty and wet street; the concrete looked as if it had rained, but they were certain that no water had fallen from the sky the previous day. They waited a few minutes, but nothing seemed to move or be out of the ordinary, and they huffed in annoyance and unease.

Suddenly, as if sensing their impatience, a white flower fairy came up running from the furthermost end of the street, face taut in fright and pace quick, so quick that it tripped and fell in the middle of the street. As it scrambled to get up as quickly as possible, a shadow started to loom from the same way the fairy had come, advancing quickly until it towered upon the frightened fairy, and Izumi gasped when it turned into a red eyed enenra.

The fairy turned slowly, frozen in fear, and stared up at the black monster.

“W-what do you want from me?! I haven’t done nothing wrong!” it said in a shrill voice, green tinted tears quickly falling from its multicolor eyes. The enenra seemed to sneer, and it spoke in an echoing voice that sent shivers down their spine.

“You did wrong when you dared to exist in this realm, you filthy creature” it approached the fairy even more, who shrunk in fear, trying to seem as small as possible.

“t-that is not for you to decide! We all have a right to l-live here” the white of its robes were starting to turn a green hue in the seams from all of its tears.

“You do not! This realm belongs to my master, and we his faithful servants will make sure it is completely cleared of you scum so that he can take his rightful throne!”

“What do you mean by that?!” squeaked the fairy, clutching its robes tightly.

“We shall kill all of the impurity that infests this realm” the enenra was getting closer to the fairy, and Izumi vaguely felt something warm running down their face. “And bring forth more of master’s servants to complete our grand task, to finally return this earth to our master’s dominion!” The enenra lurched for the fairy, who screamed in fright and startling the witch into motion as Izumi tried to reach them, but it was too late as they felt white hot pain flash through their head, and fell to their knees as they contemplated the fairy being devoured by the black monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some plot showing in the end, though it's just a teeny tiny bit  
> hmu at [tumblr](http://nishinoya-senpaai.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/_zukiria) come scream with me because of oofuri  
> As always, criticism is very appreciated!!  
> See you next time!~


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waaah i'm so sorry for the delay! things have been really rough for me irl, and honestly i've been feeling like crap, but i managed to get enough energy to post this! yaay!~  
> Okay, so, warnings for this chapter are: presence of blood, fainting, convulsions and minor mention of bruises and panic attacks. I think that's all, so please be careful if you're triggered by any of these.  
> This chapter is mostly unbeta'ed since sleep deprivation does take a toll on my editing skills, so please forgive any mistakes you see.  
> I hope you like it!

Sakaeguchi had seen many weird things in his life; when you’re a witch, extremely magical things tend to happen near you. And like so, he’d been desensitized to most of these things when still in his childhood, and even taken them as a normal part of his life when he entered the Nishiura coven.

Hence when he heard a heavy thud and his coven mates scream in the second floor, he did not jump or get startled, for this was a common occurrence in his daily life, and just dropped the duster he was using to clean the bookshelf in the main room –which was a monstrous thing, extending from one end of the room to the other and reaching to the ceiling, and he did not understand why they had to clean it at least three times a week- and ran up the stairs, almost jumping two steps at a time in his haste to get to his coven mates. Sure, he was used to them yelling, but the yelling usually meant that something was wrong, and he’d rather not repeat the incident with the sleeping potion, they’d had to sleep in the yard in tents and it had taken them weeks to completely clean the house.

When he arrived to the top of the stairs, panting and ready to battle whatever it was that had made the others screech, he found the source of the scream instantly, lying face up in the bottom of the stairs leading to the third floor, with a profuse nosebleed and a blossoming bruise in the forehead, surrounded by Oki and Nishihiro.

Unfortunately, this was another of the normal occurrences in his daily life, and he relaxed at the sight, thanking whatever deity was listening that they did not have to deal with very potent potions or accidentally summoned angry ghost.

“What happened?” he asked as he sat down on Izumi’s right, their head on Nishihiro’s lap and Oki sitting on their left.

“We don’t know, we were cleaning and then there was Izumi dropping down the stairs” Oki said, standing up to see if there was anything to put on Izumi’s still bleeding nose.

“Do you think they tripped?” he eyed the bruise with a wince, feeling sympathy for the unconscious Izumi, since that was going to hurt like hell when they woke up.

“No, I don’t think so. Izumi’s not that careless, and besides, it didn’t sound like they’d tripped, more like they just fainted in the middle of coming down” Nishihiro said, taking one of the paper towels that Oki offered and gently pressing it to Izumi’s nose, the blood seeping through it immediately.

“Do you think they’re having a vision?” Oki pressed another paper to try and stop the blood.

“Mm yeah, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, though usually they have enough time to at least sit down or something”

“That’s a lot of blood, shouldn’t we call Suyama or Momokan?” Oki said nervously, eyeing apprehensively the growing pile of bloodied paper towels.

“Nah, I’m sure they’re fine, it’s not the first time its happened, and using magic to stop the bleeding stops the vision as well, and that wouldn’t-” Sakaeguchi was interrupted when suddenly blood started coming out of Izumi’s mouth as well as ears.

“Okay, I don’t think that’s actually normal. Has this ever happened before?” Nishihiro asked while pressing harder on Izumi’s nose while cleaning the non-stopping blood in their mouth.

“Well, they do bleed whenever they have a vision, but It hasn’t really lasted this long and it’s never been other than their nose and not so much-”Abruptly, Izumi started convulsing, legs stiff and shoulders tense.

“That is definitely not normal, Oki go call Suyama, he’s in the kitchen with Momokan” Nishihiro instructed as he held Izumi’s head so that it wouldn’t fall against the floor, bloodied fingertips leaving marks in their pale cheeks, and Oki stood up quickly and dashed down the stairs while Sakaeguchi moved to grasp another handful of towel papers to clean the rush of blood from Izumi’s ears and mouth, keeping one pressed against their nose.

“Crap, crap, crap” Nishihiro muttered as Izumi’s movements became stronger.

“Izumi! Oi, Izumi! Wake up! To hell with the vision, wake up!” If Sakaeguchi had been calm before, he definitely wasn’t now that Izumi seemed to be too deep into the vision to wake up. Rapid, heavy footsteps sounded in the stairs, and soon enough, Momokan appeared in the room.

“What happened?” she kneeled beside Nishihiro and started checking on Izumi, touching their forehead and opening their eyes.

“We don’t know! They apparently fainted while coming down the stairs, and we thought it was a normal vision but they started bleeding too much and then convulsing, and it seems to be getting worse by the second” Nishihiro explained quickly as Suyama appeared in the stairs, followed by a very tired and preoccupied Oki.

“Izumi, can you hear me? You need to get out of there, it’s frying your brain” she put her hand in their forehead and closed her eyes, whispering a few words.

Izumi gave a final lurch before opening their eyes and gasping for breath, eyes wide and scared, trying to sit up.

“Izumi, it’s okay, stay down for a bit, you’re safe now, it’s okay” Momoe appeased them, making them lie back down on Nishihiro’s lap. “Suyama, please get some warm water and something for blood loss, they’ve lost too much and might faint again”

“Right” Suyama quickly turned around and went down the stairs again, Momokan focusing back on the frantic Izumi.

“Izumi, it’s fine, calm down, you’re safe now” The woman stroked their hair and their wide blue eyes focused on her face, blood covering most of their face, chest heaving up and down with every breath.

“Momokan, here” Suyama handed her a vase with water and a towel.

“Thank you” Momoe grabbed the things and gently started to clean their face.

“Sakaeguchi, can you move over a bit? I need to do something”

“Oh! Yeah, of course” as Sakaeguchi stood up, Suyama quickly occupied his spot.

“Izumi, can you hear me? I’m going to touch your chest now a bit, okay?” when Izumi gave a weak nod, Suyama took a small flask of oil from his pocket and poured some of it in the back of his hand, placing it then on top of Izumi’s heart and closing his eyes. As he did this, the point of contact between his hand and Izumi’s chest started to glow a warm gold, and Izumi’s breathing became slower, his whole body relaxing.

“I’m going to touch your forehead now too, okay?” this time the nod was more noticeable, and Suyama placed his hand on top of Izumi’s forehead, his thumb resting between their eyes, the same glow emitting now from both hands. After a few seconds, Suyama retired his hands and Izumi blinked, eyes scanning all of their faces until they stopped in Momoe’s.

“Momokan, something wrong is happening. The dryads are restless, and the vision I just saw” Izumi shuddered and took a quick breath. “Something big is coming Momokan, it’s going to be dangerous and it’ll affect all of us”

“Izumi what did you saw? Is it going to happen to one of us?” Momoe urged him, her expression tense.

“It happened last night, there was-“they halted and shuddered again, but continued “there was a flower fairy, running down one of the alley’s in the factory sector. It was being chased b-by an Enenra.” They all gasped when Izumi said this, and Momokan’s face became even more serious and grim.

“B-but that’s impossible! Enenra are supposed to be extinct!” Oki exclaimed, looking very pale and very terrified. Sakaeguchi looked at everyone’s faces and they all were exporting the same fearful look in their eyes. He wasn’t feeling too hopeful himself; enenra were creatures of darkness, very powerful and evil, it was definitely not good news that one was roaming the city, so close to where they lived.

“I know, but that’s what it was, there was no mistaking it” Izumi closed their eyes, as if pained. “It said that it served a master, a great powerful master with lots of ‘faithful servants’ and that they were going to wipe the earth of us impurities, to give back this real to its rightful owner”

“Its rightful owner? But who could that be?” Suyama wondered, looking at Momoe as if for an explanation, but the woman said nothing and Izumi continued.

“I don’t know, it said that and then- and then it ate the fairy, the vision stopped there” Izumi closed their eyes again, and rested their head back against Nishihiro’s lap, missing the dark look that crossed Momoe’s eyes.

“That is certainly very bad news. I shall ask the heads of other covens, and talk to the dryads, see if they know anything.” She announced, and the head of the Nishiura coven stood up.

“I should go with you, see if they’re hiding something from u-“Izumi made to stand up, bur Momoe stopped him with a look.

“No. right now you should rest, it would be of no use for you to come with me if you’re too weak, you might end up passing out again, and the last thing we need right now is for other people to think that we, specially you, are weak. I’ll take Shinooka with me, she’ll be able to tell if there is something they’re keeping from us. For now, you must go to bed and rest.” Izumi was about to protest, but Momokan had already adverted her glance “Nishihiro, Oki, please take Izumi to his room and make sure they actually rest. Suyama, please go check on them once in a while, they might still pass out from blood loss. Sakaeguchi, you are in charge of the coven while I’m gone, it might be a few days before I return, so I’m counting on you to keep everything under control.” She waited until all of them chorused a “yes, Momokan!” before turning and going down the stairs.

As Nishihiro and Oki helped Izumi to their feet, and Suyama went down the stairs too, Sakaeguchi couldn’t help but think what a great disadvantage was that they were so low in number, and he hoped against all hopes that some new members would arrive soon.

* * *

 

Mihashi was lost.

Who would’ve thought that going out and trying to find an herb store would be so hard? He should have made sure to have a map of the city before he actually moved, even if a week hadn’t past since he decided to move for real.

He really should have grabbed a map when he was at the train station yesterday, he thought as he circled through the same street for the fifth time. He would go and find one from the station now, he would do it as soon as he found the way to the station, or even his apartment. Again, he thought about asking someone, and again he decided against it, thinking how much of a nuisance to whoever he asked it’d be.

He kept walking, not even trying to find the herbal store anymore, just intent on finding something he would’ve seen yesterday in his walk from the station to his apartment, anything that would lead him back to the safeness of his new home.

Peering into the window displays, he was about to resign and accept his fate of having to sleep on the cold street floor for the night, when a shout startled him.

“Hey! You lost or something? I’ve seen you pass this street ‘bout three times now!” Mihashi jumped around, coming face to face with a boy not much older than himself, with wide cinnamon eyes, tan skin, short hair and a slight dusting of freckles across his cheeks and nose.

“I-i-I’m  j-just a bit l-lost?” he stuttered uncertainly, but the other boy just grinned.

“You should’ve said so earlier! Are you new? This isn’t that big of a city, and lots of the people in here actually live in the outskirts of town. Ah! Were you looking for something in special?” He talked quickly, but Mihashi didn’t feel overwhelmed by this boy, there was something strangely soothing about him, and his kind words only added to that image.

“An herb? St-store, I n-need…” He trailed off, looking at the ground.

“Is that so? What a coincidence! I’m just about to go there to pick up some stuff for my mum, wanna come together?” the boy asked, and Mihashi nodded his head quickly, his vision becoming a blur as he thought what a nice person this boy was. “Okay then! It’s this way!” the boy grabbed his arm and started leading him in the right way, chatting all along on this or that, Mihashi listening intently, eyes wide and attentive, until not long after they stopped in front of a small, very green shop.

“Here we are! It’s not actually that far from the train station, which is along that way” he pointed to his right, from where most of the people roaming the streets were coming. “Just in case you need something and I’m not here” the boy grinned and Mihashi watched in awe as he turned and opened the door, hurrying after the boy as he made his way into the store, the smell of wet earth, growing plants and sunshine filling his lungs.

“So, what did you need?” the boy asked after grabbing a hose head and a few other tools, including something that looked like a plain iron rod.

“M-mugwort, hyssop herb a-and bamboo” Mihashi numbered with his fingers.

“Wow, that sure is a strange shopping list” Mihashi raised his shoulders and looking at the ground, waiting for the other boy to ask why he needed them, but the other just eyed him and then turned around. “I think we can find all of them here though, let’s look around, yeah?” the boy grinned at him, and Mihashi almost snapped his neck in his haste to nod.

They were looking around at the different packets of herbs and fresh herbs when suddenly something jumped on the table containing the fresh plants and started to happily munch on some dandelions.

“OI, Emi get down from there! Don’t eat the dandelions they’re not got for you!” the other boy exclaimed and then his eyes widened, and turned around to face a stiff and frightened Mihashi. “Ah! I’m sorry! I didn’t meant to startle you! It was just-“the boy cut himself off when he followed Mihashi’s line of sight, frozen staring at the misbehaving little fox. “Wait, you can see her too?!” he asked and Mihashi slowly transferred his eyes from the small creature to the other boy and gave a tentative nod. “So do you know what she is?!”

“A n-nine tailed fox? B-but! A very y-young one, it’s only g-got two tails...” Mihashi trailed off, and the other boy was almost vibrating with joy, and now even the small fox seemed interested.

“Could it be? Are you a witch too?!”The boy exclaimed, crowding in Mihashi’s personal space with stars in his eyes, and Mihashi couldn’t do anything else besides nodding rapidly.

“Woaah! That’s amazing! What are the chances, huh? I couldn’t sense a thing from you, that’s why I approached you! I’m a witch too! Mind reader! I’m Tajima Yuuichirou, nice to meet you! What’s your name? D’ya have any cool powers?” Tajima asked in quick succession, easing up a bit on Mihashi’s personal space, but keeping his eyes trained on the other nonetheless.

“Mihashi R-ren, I came here from M-mihoshi, a-and I’m not p-powerful at all” Mihashi fidgeted as he answered, and Tajima huffed.

“What’s with that? I bet you have a super cool power, I can sense enough from you to know! What is it?”

“T-telekinesis”

“Woah! That’s so cool! Emi thinks so too, don’t you Emi?” he asked the fox, who just blinked at him and jumped down the table with the flowers to climb on Tajima’s shoulder.

“I-it’s c-called Emi?” Mihashi asked, and stretched his hand to pet the animal, the fox smelling his hand and then allowing him to pet her.

“She likes you! Yeah, I choose her name when I met her” Tajima puffed his chest in pride. “Oh! We still need to find what you wanted, yeah? Emi, have you seen mugwort, hyssop herb and bamboo?” Tajima asked the fox and she looked at him, blinking twice before pointing her nose to a part of the shop they hadn’t gone yet. “Emi says there wasn’t any hyssop herb, the shelf was empty, but the mugwort and bamboo are that way” Tajima explained as he started walking in the appointed direction, Mihashi trailing after him.

“Y-you can t-talk to her?” Mihashi asked in awe as Tajima scanned the shelves.

“Sure thing! It’s a part of my mind reading power, I can talk to all creatures! I wonder why I can’t seem to be getting any thoughts from you though.” He stared, suddenly serious, and Mihashi fidgeted at the boy’s eyes scanning him, but then he grinned again, and Mihashi relaxed. “Oh! Found it!” Tajima reached to the shelf behind Mihashi’s head and grabbed a packet of dried mugwort, handing it to the ginger boy before turning around and searching for the bamboo.

“Ah! It’s here!” Mihashi exclaimed, kneeling in front of another shelf and picking up the small pieces of bamboo.

“Nice eyes, Mihashi! Now let’s go to the front to pay for all this.” Tajima leaded the way, and talked to the clerk when he saw Mihashi fidgeting in nervousness, paying for the herbs and the bamboo with the money the shorter boy handed him hastily.

“Man, what a pity they didn’t have any hyssop herb. What’d you want it for anyway? Got any curses that need breaking?” Tajima asked as they walked out of the store, purchases in hand, and Mihashi nodded.

“I th-think my plants do, they started wilting today” Tajima eyed him and hummed.

“Where d’you live? I can see if there is some in my mum’s garden and bring it to you” he offered and Mihashi looked at him in admiration.

“In the! Red building! With a…green door! Near the station! Apartment 100!” he stuttered out in excitement and Tajima grinned at him.

“How’d you get lost then? This is really close to that building” he smirked and Mihashi blushed a deep red, making the tanned boy laugh. “I’ll drop by tomorrow then, so wait for me!” he smiled and petted the fox perched on his shoulder.

What a nice person, Mihashi thought as they walked towards his building, and they parted for the night, the pale boy happy to have met such a nice person in his first official day in his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit's starting to hit the fan ôヮô ~~when will i stop making characters suffer, i cant seem to stop sinning~~  
>  In this chapter, Izumi had convulsions and a panic attack after it, since i think their visions can be quite disorienting, and i speak from personal experience when i say you can have a panic attack right after something messes with your health (i've had them after fainting and the like) but this is all my experience and i have no medical knowledge whatsoever, so please don't take my word as law.  
> Poor baby Mihashi, he's such a smol birb and i really love his friendship with Tajima, it's one of the reasons i love oofuri so much so you might see lots and lots of it in this fic~  
> Please tell me your thoughts on the story! comments always cheer me up and give me encouragement to keep writing as well as warm my soul (∪ ◡ ∪)  
> As always, criticism is very much appreciated!  
> See you next time! (^з^)-☆


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so very sorry omg, i'm a terrible person, this should've been posted a week ago but i just couldn't manage to do it i'm so sorry please forgive me, i have zero intentions of abandoning this fic, i'm just really slow at updating but if you want you can totally come talk to me in twitter to get writing and post a chapter.  
> Thank you for all of your lovely comments and kudos, they warm my cold black soul and give me the push i need to keep writing  
> Anyway, i don't think there are any new warnings for this chapter, just mentions of blood like the previous one, so please enjoy!!

Abe was pissed.

It wasn’t an uncommon emotion in him, since almost everything in his day to day life pissed him off, but right now he was Pissed and Angry, capital letters needed. And it all started because he slept through his alarm and got late to his first class, and to top it all off, they had a surprise exam in said class, and he was sure he’d gotten a red mark.

Since he’d woke up late, he’d skipped breakfast and now was practically starving, but he’d texted Hanai to ask if they should meet to have lunch, who cared if it was actually almost time for dinner, and the taller boy had replied with an affirmative, so he was making his way to their accorded place, avoiding alleys and streets with fewer people on them, intent on not having another Incident.

He hurried when he spotted the small café, and as soon as he opened the door, he was greeted with the ding of a bell as well as the warm air and pleasant smell of the modest coffee shop. He was grateful when he spotted the saved head of his roommate towering over the backrest of the comfy booths, and swiftly made his way through the tables to reach said roommate. When he came into view of the table, however, he spotted two other people that were definitely not his roommate.

“Sorry I took so long, hey Sakaeguchi, Izumi.” he said as he took a seat besides the former, right in front of Izumi, Hanai sitting by their side.

“Hey Abe” Sakaeguchi smiled at him, ever the cheerful person, while Izumi muttered a small “yo” and Hanai scanned him through his glasses.

“What took you so long?” he inquired and Abe frowned, remembering the classmates that had asked for help, and how hard had it been to tell them he wasn’t really in the position for helping.

“Got held up by a couple classmates, two girls that wanted help with the History homework.”

“God, they must be really desperate if they’re asking you for help.” Hanai drawled as he turned the liquid in his mug.

“Hey! What do you mean by-“Abe was ready to argue with them when Izumi interrupted.

“Oho? Abe, do you, by any chance, have suitors?” they asked, eyebrows raised in mock suspicion.

“If so, they’re wasting their time with this one, Abe won’t even give them the time of the day.” Sakaeguchi chimed, munching thoughtfully in a few crackers.

Abe glared at the three of them, giving them his trademark unimpressed stare. “Excuse you, I am perfectly capable of dating someone-“

“But you won’t” Izumi interrupted him, a smirk on their lips. “Just admit it and give it up, Abe, we all know it’s the truth.”

Abe frowned even more “What’s with you guys today? Ganging up on me like that” he stole one of Sakaeguchi’s crackers and chomped on it angrily, until he realised what he was doing and paused. “Wait, you guys ordered already?” he asked, looking at the half eaten cracker in his hand, the very few left in Sakaeguchi’s plate and Hanai’s almost empty mug.

“Nah,  we were studying here before you texted me, and we were waiting for you to order dinner, the waitress has come around almost five times now” Hanai explained, draining the rest of his tea and setting the cup on the table.

“Oh, I see.” Abe muttered, eating the rest of the cracker and stealing another, ignoring Sakaeguchi’s indignant “hey!”

“And there she comes again, just in time.” Izumi muttered, and a minute later the pretty waitress came into view.

“Are you ready to order now?” she asked in a slightly irritated voice.

“Ah! Yes!” Hanai stuttered, blushing a bit and rushing to hide behind his menu. “I’ll have the cheese burger with salad” he spluttered, and Abe raised his eyebrows at him.

“I’ll have the fish with ginger, with a side of rice please.” Izumi said, without even looking at the menu.

“For me the steak with mashed potatoes.” Abe said, still looking at Hanai.

“And for me it’ll be the steamed fish with lemon, with the lettuce and apple salad, please.” Sakaeguchi put down his menu, smiling gently at the girl as she jotted down everything.

“And to drink?” she asked when she stopped writing.

“Water will be fine for all of us.” Izumi answered, and the waitress gave a curt nod before retreating into the kitchen. When she was out of hearing range, Abe and Izumi turned to Hanai, and the boy blushed a beet red.

“Hanai, you’re lactose intolerant.” Abe deadpanned.

“And what about it?” the glasses boy answered, staring intently at the linoleum table.

“You just ordered the cheese burger. With cheese, which is made from milk, which-“

“I know, okay?! I panicked!” the taller interrupted Abe, and looked away. Izumi gave a mocking laugh.

“Wow, would you look at that, our Hanai has a crush, Oh how our baby has grown.” Izumi joked, wiping a fake tear from his eyes while Sakaeguchi looked on in concern.

“Shut up!” Hanai exclaimed angrily, his face as red as a tomato.

“Too bad for you, I think we pissed her off making her wait for our orders while waiting for Abe, you don’t have any chances now, lover boy.” Izumi stole Sakaeguchi’s last cracker, but the latter didn’t even notice.

“Hanai, what are you going to do? You can’t eat that, you’ll get sick.” Sakaeguchi said, his face pinched in concern.

“I know, can’t one of you guys just switch with me?” he groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“Hell no! This is my first meal of the day, I don’t want burger to be it.” Abe said gruffly.

“I won’t give you my fish, I’ve been waiting long to try it and I’m not gonna give up on it now that I have it” Izumi said, inspecting his menu. “You can eat when you get home, what about instant ramen? I’m sure there is some of it in that apartment of yours.”

“Noo, not instant ramen, not again.” Hanai cried in defeat, resting his head on the table.

“I’ll switch with you.” Sakaeguchi said, and Hanai looked at him in admiration.

“Really?! Thanks Sakaeguchi! You’re the best!”

“But! The steamed fish is actually the smallest plate they have, it’s a low fat diet plate. You can have it so you’ll learn to pay more attention to your surroundings.” Sakaeguchi smiled innocently, and Hanai looked at him, eyes wide in betrayal while Abe and Izumi laughed.

“Evil, that’s what all of you are, Satan spawn.” Hanai said sullenly, and the other two laughed even more.

Soon later, the waitress returned with their orders, and once she left, Hanai stared in horror at the minuscule fish while the other three laughed.

“Serves you right!” Izumi managed to choke out in between bouts of laughter.

“Some friends I have” Hanai muttered before starting to eat, and the others soon followed his example. “This is actually pretty tasty.” he said, eating the white flesh of the fish and the green lettuce leafs.

“I agree.” Abe said before continuing to stuff his face with his food.

“Oh my god, why didn’t I eat this earlier? I love it,” Izumi mumbled, staring lovingly at their food.

“You guys look as if you hadn’t eaten in the whole day.” Sakaeguchi commented, amused.

“I hadn’t” Abe chirped, pausing to take a drink of his water.

“Yeah and I need to replenish my strength, we were studying all afternoon.” Izumi said, cutting their fish in smaller pieces. Sakaeguchi just laughed before starting with his own food. After that, the chatter died down, and they ate mostly in silence, with a few inputs from Sakaeguchi and answers from Hanai, since both Izumi and Abe were too busy eating to talk.

When they were all done with their respective meals, they paid and left the café, walking aimlessly through the mostly desert, dim streets.

“Say, Hanai, don’t you think we could use some more studying? I still don’t feel really confident about knowing all the material.”  Sakaeguchi said, walking alongside the glasses boy while the other two trailed behind them.

“Mm, yeah, you’re right, I don’t feel too convinced either, we could head to our apartment and study a bit more, I’d hate to fail this test. You wouldn’t mind, would you Abe?” Hanai mused, and turned around to ask his silent roommate.

“Nah, it’s fine, I was planning to go to bed right away anyway.” Abe answered with a yawn while Izumi cheered.

“Nice! I think I’ll tag along too.”

“Why? It’s not like you have to study too, you have everything learned already.” Hanai looked at them now, distrustful.

“No reason, I just want to annoy you for a while longe.r” Izumi shrugged and grinned, but Abe could see a certain tension in their shoulders, and while Hanai complained about the evil friends he had, Abe didn’t miss the confidential look Izumi and Sakaeguchi shared, and he furrowed his eyebrows in thought, wondering if Izumi had a hidden purpose in going to their apartment, but quickly dismissed the idea as another yawn made its way out of his mouth.

As they walked, the others kept talking, but Abe was too tired to listen anymore, let alone participate in their conversation, and so he dedicated the time of his walk to sleepily examine the streets they were passing through.

Halfway to their apartment already, something caught his eye; a movement in the shadows behind a parked car. He watched it anxiously, and when he saw a definite movement, he hurried his pace and tapped Hanai in the arm.

“Hey, I think something’s following us” Abe whispered, glad that Izumi and Sakaeguchi were chatting between themselves when Hanai’s eyes widened and he paled noticeably.

“Wha-? How do you know?” he peered around warily, pursing his lips.

“Saw it moving in the shadows of the parked car we just passed, don’t know what the hell it is though”

“Damn it, why now of all times-?”

“Hey guys, watcha whispering so secretly about?” Izumi walked between them as Sakaeguchi leaned towards them in Hanai’s other side, smiling.

“Ah, that is- eh, it’s nothing really” Hanai stuttered, looking utterly guilty.

“Aw, what’s with that? You totally were plotting something.” Izumi pouted as they stretched their arms behind their head.

“It really is! Nothing so interes-“

“Abe, watch out!” Sakaeguchi screamed, interrupting Hanai while grabbing at his arm and backing away quickly. Abe turned around as in slow motion, only catching a glimpse of the horrible green creature before he was tackled to the ground by Izumi, his shoulder slamming painfully against the concrete. As he turned and scrambled backwards in fear, the creature stood tall in the middle the street, it’s gross grey robes and wiry hair hanging from its frame, and Abe would’ve puked if he wasn’t so scared when he saw the raw patches of its sickly green skin, but then the creature opened its mouth and screeched, and every thought in Abe’s mind disappeared, pain flashing through his skull, only stopping when the creature stopped its scream, leaving him dazed and lying back on the ground, sluggishly noticing something warm flowing down the sides of his face.

“Goddamn it!” he managed to turn his head at the familiar voice, watching as through a haze as Izumi fell from the crouch they’d landed in after tackling Abe, now kneeling on the ground, bleeding from his ears and nose and clutching at their head in pain. “Sakaeguchi!”

“I’m on it!” the other said, and Abe turned his head a bit more to watch where Sakaeguchi and Hanai where, the former still standing in front of Hanai as if to shield him, both bleeding from their ears as well. Abe couldn’t really understand what happened then, his mind being too muddled to do that, and he absentmindedly watched as Sakaeguchi dug around his messenger bag while the creature turned to look at him with its glazed silvery eyes, and just as it was opening its mouth to scream again, the boy threw a golden powder at it, making the monster freeze long enough for Sakaeguchi to redirect one of the light beams of the nearby lamppost and point it straight at the thing, blasting it with light for a few minutes before letting go of the light to reveal a pile of dust where the creature stood before.

Sakaeguchi stumbled a few paces backwards, breathing deeply before rushing to Izumi’s side, but the other shrugged him off.

“I’m fine, we just really need to get out of here, there are more on the way” they said as they stood up shakily and Sakaeguchi looked up at them, visibly shaken.

“More?! How many?”

“About fifteen or twenty, can’t say for sure” Izumi brushed the blood out of the corners of their mouth before continuing. “Go check on Hanai, I’ll see how Abe’s doing” they walked to Abe’s form lying on the ground, Sakaeguchi heading to Hanai.

“Abe, hey Abe, you okay? Please don’t tell me you’re dying” Izumi kneeled by his side and opened one of his eyes.

“M’ not” he groaned and blinked to clear his vision.

“Oh thank god, I really thought you’d died there” Izumi said as they helped him sit and then going through their bag looking for something. “Here, take this” they handed him a small vial with a clear liquid inside and Abe drank it in one gulp, feeling better on the spot.

“We need to move, Abe, can you stand?” Sakaeguchi asked, a very confused and shocked Hanai hanging from his arm.

“I think so, I feel better now” Abe struggled a bit to stand up, Izumi helping him to his feet and then putting a supporting hand in his arm when he staggered, keeping a hold of his arm until they were certain Abe wouldn’t fall flat on his face.

“Let’s go then, we’re not that far from the apartment, we should make it there in a few minutes.” Sakaeguchi said, moving with Hanai.

“That’s really cutting it close though, they’re getting even closer” Izumi grunted, touching his forehead again. “It’s not going to be pretty if they find us.”

“What do you mean? Who’s getting closer?” Hanai asked, seemingly recovered from his shock.

“And what the hell was that thing?” Abe asked, eyebrows furrowing.

That made Izumi and Sakaeguchi pause. “Wait, you could see it too?” Sakaeguchi asked suspiciously.

“Yeah! That thing almost fucking killed me!” Abe exclaimed grumpily, feeling the strength coming back to his limbs with each step.

“I could see it too, Abe and I have been able to see them for years. In fact, how could the both of you see it?” Hanai asked this time.

“Years? And what do you mean by them?” Izumi asked, ignoring Hanai’s previous question.

“Never mind that right now, we’ll explain when we get to safety.” Sakaeguchi scolded, his normal carefree attitude nowhere to be seen. Soon later, they entered the safety of the apartment building, and quickly rode the elevator to the correct floor, entering the apartment in a hurry and locking the door behind them.

“Okay, so what the actual fuck was that?” Abe asked as soon as Sakaeguchi locked the door, lowering himself gently into the couch, Hanai following his example.

“This is going to sound so weird, but it’s the truth” Izumi muttered almost to themselves before sighing and continuing. “There’s no easy way to break this to you guys, so I’m going straight to the point: we’re witches.” They threw themselves in the only chair in the living, and gratefully accepted the damp cloth Sakaeguchi offered them to clean their face from the blood.

“You’re fucking with me” Abe deadpanned, now sitting straight and giving them the full brunt of his unamused glare.

Izumi snorted. “I wish I was.”

“We’re telling the truth. Izumi’s a psychic and I can control light.” Sakaeguchi added, plopping onto the floor.

“What the hell guys” Hanai looked at them with wide eyes, obviously impressed.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Abe asked instead, and now watched as the two fidgeted.

“Well, this is a really secret matter, we didn’t want to compromise you or our coven, but since that banshee attacked us tonight-“

“Wait, wait, go back there for a bit. You guys are in a coven? A real, actual real life coven?” Hanai’s eyes were so wide they could pop out of his skull any second.

“Yes, the Nishiura coven, we’re not that big though, not anymore” Sakaeguchi blinked at them.

“Holy shit” the taller boy leaned back into the couch, his glasses askew.

“Yeah, and so since the banshee attacked us and you guys could actually see it, we thought it would be best for us to tell you.”

“That thing was a banshee? But I thought-“

“Why now?” Abe interjected, cutting Hanai off.

“Something’s happening, or at least is going to happen soon and it won’t be nice.” Izumi spoke for the first time since they’d announced the fact that they were witches, their face darkening.

“How do you know?”

“I’m a psychic remember? I see stuff. And what’s with the twenty questions? We’re still us, nothing of that’s changed”

“I know, I just had to make sure” Abe sighed finally and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes.

“How could you see the banshee, though? Why do you guys have the Sight?” Sakaeguchi asked in confusion.

“For me it’s been always there, I’ve always been able to see them. I think it had something to do with my parents, since every time I complained about a monster to them I could see them get this really guilty look.” Hanai explained, playing with his thumbs while he looked at the floor.

“I had an accident once, while still in elementary school. There was a stray kitten that lived near our house, and Shun was really attached to it, feed it always even though it wasn’t officially his cat. One day there was this really bad storm, and we happened to be walking outside, I don’t even remember why anymore, when we saw that the kitten was hanging from a bridge, almost falling into the water. Long story short, I went to pick it up, managed to hand it to Shun and then slipped. I don’t know how long I was under, I think I was actually dead for a few minutes, but when I woke up they were there, chasing me everywhere. It hasn’t stopped since then.” Abe remembered that day, the harsh wind, the panic of falling and the freezing water, the burn in his lungs and then nothing.

“We met in the first day of high school and both joined the baseball team, and one night we were walking after practice together when one of those things attacked us” Hanai continued with the story. “It chased us and it wasn’t until we lost it that we realized the other could see it too.”

“I’ve seen them attack animals and other stuff.” Abe added as an afterthought. “Those things are nasty.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Izumi snorted, but there wasn’t an ounce of laughter in their tone.

“I see. That was certainly a wild ride.” Sakaeguchi mused and this time Abe snorted. “When was the last time something attacked you? Besides today, I mean.”

“Yesterday. One of them chased me from uni.” Abe answered.

“And that was the fourth time this week for Abe, I’ve gotten chased about three times this week.” Hanai chimed.

“Mm, I wonder why they’re so intent in chasing you? And why-“

“Shit” Izumi gasped, clutching at his head.

“Izumi, what’s wrong?” Sakaeguchi hurried to come by their side.

“There’s too many of them. They’re coming.”

“Coming? What do you mean coming? Here?” Hanai sputtered in disbelief.

“Yeah. I can only sense they’re chasing after something but I don’t know why.”

“What do we do now, can’t we fight them off somehow?” Abe asked, and Sakaeguchi shook his head.

“We don’t have enough stuff to do that, we need to leave.” He said as he retrieved his bag and started pulling at the carpet.

“What are you doing?”

“Drawing a portal. We can’t stay here and if they’re coming already then a little bit more of magic won’t do anything.” He said as he quickly pushed the carpet aside and started drawing on the wooden floor with a piece of charcoal.

“Get anything you need guys, we’re leaving. And If they’re coming here then I doubt there’s going to be much left from this apartment.” Izumi said grimly and both boys sighed before nodding.

“Our lease was up next week anyway.” Hanai muttered as he gathered some books from the shelf in a corner of the room.

Abe went into his room and started stuffing his bag with his clothes, taking some books and notebooks as well as a box with pictures before bidding farewell to his room and going back to the living, where Hanai and the other two were waiting.

“You done? Okay then, step into the circle with all your stuff.” Izumi instructed and the roommates quickly followed their instructions, the two witches crowding into the portal as well.

“Okay, portal 101: keep all your limbs inside of the portal circle at all times as well as everything you carry, or it might get lost and you’ll never see it again. Also, don’t panic, the slight oppressing feeling is normal, and keep a tight hold of your stuff.” Izumi crossed the strap of their bag across their chest.

“This will be weird, and it might even hurt a bit, but please bear it and don’t try to escape.” Sakaeguchi said in an apologetic tone, and he waited until both boys nodded before closing his eyes and directing the palms of his hands to the lines of the circle. With a flash of light, the lines ignited, glowing brightly before completely diminishing, revealing the empty room just as something smashed the window.

* * *

 

Move, flee, run, _GO!_

The wind felt heavy against his body, the scenery of the forest alien in the absolute darkness, even though it shouldn’t be that late into the night yet, frightening in the sense that no other sound could be heard besides his heavy breathing, even with his acute hearing.

_Run, run, run, run!_

The smell of the wet earth was strong in his nostrils, mixing with the organic one of leaves in his nostrils, made even more noticeable by the chill of the air. In some part of his brain this registered as strange, for it wasn’t yet as late in the season for the weather to be so cold, yet his fur was standing on end. But then again, that could be due because of the thing currently chasing him, and not so much because of the chilling breeze.

Tiny paws hitting the earth, the powerful muscles of his legs propelling him forward at great speed, and yet he could sense more than hear the monster approaching, closing in on its new prey. Frantic, he looked at his surroundings, desperate to find some place to hide until the monster passed and lost his trail, but at the great speed he was going it was impossible to spot somewhere safe.

His body burned with exhaustion, legs burning and lungs aching, and he could feel his speed decreasing, his paws long ago becoming numb and his legs stumbling with a few branches protruding from the earth.

 _I don’t want to die_ , he thought in fear, and pushed the hurt in his muscles aside in favor of doing a last mad dash forward, running with the desperation and fear in the prospect of dying.

He could have changed right then and there in relief when he sensed the magic up ahead, and forcing his legs to move, he made a final sprint, feeling the warm along his body when he crossed the magic barrier, but he didn’t stop right away, running a few meters more before tripping ungracefully and lying panting on the ground, feeling the now soothingly cool air around him.

He kept in guard, however, since he could still sense the monster following after the path that his scent left across the forest earth. He could have wept in joy when he felt the monster screech to a halt and give up on his trail after feeling the power of the magical barrier, and when he finally heard the monster howl in anger before retreating back from whenever it came from, he allowed his muscles to relax and feel the burning ache along his body, his breathing slowing down as his tiny heart calmed.

He couldn’t rest yet though, his instincts screamed at him and he somehow managed to pick up his body from the moist earth, and started venturing further into the guarded area. A few meters into the safe zone he could start to hear the chirping of birds and the buzzling of insects, as well as the chatter from the fairies playing in the flowers and the dryads perched in the taller branches of their trees.

He kept trotting, glad that the magical creatures that inhabited this space seemed to be leaving him alone, slowing to a peaceful walk when he realized this fact, but hurrying along again when his ears caught the distinct sounds of a stream of water, and he barely suppressed the urge to throw himself into the crystalline water to relieve the soreness of his body, instead settling for drinking a few mouthfuls of the healing water and retreating back into the shadow of a big  _sugi_ tree near the water stream, pressing his back against the bark and closing his eyes, finally allowing himself to relax after the frightening events of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cat is partially out of the bag now  
> could you guess who was the new character in the last part of the chapter? i'll give you a metaphorical cookie if you can  
> this is the longest chapter to date i believe, i plan to make them longer as the story goes on, but i'm not yet sure how much longer.  
> as always, criticism is very much appreciated!  
> see you next time!~


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahaha would you look at that! I'm actually on time now! Yaaay!~  
> Happy holidays! I hope you had a nice time, and that you ate many many nice things~  
> I don't think there are any new warnings for this chapter, so without more things to say, please enjoy!!

They landed with an enormous crash into the living room, appearing from thin air and plummeting down into the carpet, surrounded by light and warm encased in the room coming from some of the candles spreading through the ample room, which were not the main source of light but where nonetheless alight, the feeling of safeness cursing in their bodies from the magic that lingered in the air.

Sakaeguchi closed his eyes and willed his head to steady, a bit tired from having to move four people through the light portal, turning in his heel to find himself the only one standing in the room; Izumi was sitting on their butt looking dazed, while Abe and Hanai where lying on the floor, Abe on his back and Hanai on his stomach, both looking down right terrified and about to throw up.

“Sakaeguchi, what the hell, that was so much rougher than usual.” Izumi whined as they rubbed their throbbing head.

“Sorry, I’m not really used to transporting more than two people at a time.” Sakaeguchi replied, sitting in one of the comfy chairs himself and testing his powers on the nearby candle, at the same time checking the overall magic of the house and its surroundings.

“Oi, Abe, Hanai, don’t you dare throw up. We cleaned this room yesterday and I am not cleaning this again.” Izumi warned as they crawled to the soft velvet couch, throwing themselves on it with a huff. Sakaeguchi looked at his two friends, and was about to kneel down with them and help when sudden steps came rushing and the door slammed open, revealing Suyama, Nishihiro and Oki.

“Sakaeguchi, what happened?! You came barreling trough the ward and we thought-” Suyama cut himself off when he spotted the two boys lying on the ground.

“Sorry guys, we had a little incident.” Sakaeguchi knelt between Abe and Hanai while Izumi snorted.

“I wouldn’t call a banshee almost killing the four of us and then being chased by twenty more a ‘little incident’”

“Banshee? What on earth happened guys?” Nishihiro exclaimed while Suyama came into the room and crouched besides Sakaeguchi.

“First time through a portal?” He asked as he eyed Abe and Hanai, and Sakaeguchi nodded.

“Yeah, could you check them over? The travel was unusually rough since I’m not used to carry four people through the light courses.” The shorter boy pleaded and Suyama nodded, quickly putting his hands on Abe’s chest, light starting to glow from the point of contact.

“We’re so lucky Momokan left already, she would’ve had our heads for bringing new people in without asking first.” Izumi groaned from the couch.

“You’re still screwed, you have to tell her at some point.” Oki pointed and Izumi groaned louder.

“They’re fine, both a bit shaken from the portal travel, but they should feel better now.” Suyama informed Sakaeguchi as Abe groaned and Hanai turned on his back.

“My head.” Abe complained while Hanai muttered “Never again.”

“Hey you two, how’s it going?” Izumi sat up on the couch and looked down at the floor.

“Awesome, never been better.” Hanai groaned this time closing his eyes while Abe focused in Sakaeguchi.

“Where the fuck are we.” He deadpanned and Sakaeguchi smiled a little.

“We’re at the Nishiura coven, where both Izumi and I live. These are the other members of the coven, Oki, Nishihiro and Suyama.” The shorter boy pointed at each of them in turn and Abe breathed out a small “Hey”, the others chorusing it back.

“These are Abe and Hanai.” Sakaeguchi told the witches. “We’ve been friends with them since high school, and had to bring them here because of the incident Izumi mentioned. They both have the Sight, so I don’t think it should be a problem.” The others nodded in understanding.

“Why where you chased by a banshee though?” Nishihiro asked Izumi.

“I don’t fucking know, it just tried to kill us. And it wasn’t ‘a’ it was like, a shit ton of them, almost gave me internal bleeding.” They moaned out and the other witches smiled.

“Twenty isn’t a ‘shit ton’, Izumi.” Oki stated patiently as he came and sat beside the psychic.

“Well, it felt like it, they were crushing my brains out.”

“Twenty is still a lot.” Suyama mused. “What happened after it tried to kill you?”

“We ran to our apartment but Izumi said they still managed to find us.” Abe replied this time, sitting up gingerly.

“Yeah, sorry guys but I don’t think there’s an apartment there anymore.” Izumi finally sat up completely on the couch.

“It’s whatever. Our lease was up anyway.” Hanai winced as he sat up too.

“So that’s why you brought them here. Nice thinking.” Suyama complimented but Sakaeguchi just nodded.

“Do you think Momokan will be mad?” the other asked in worry.

“Nah, I don’t think so, she’s always telling us to think smart and avoid the danger. You guys did the right thing.” Oki supplied with a gentle smile.

“Who’s ‘Momokan’ anyway?” Hanai asked no one in particular.

“She’s our coven leader, she’s… visiting a place right now, with Shinooka, another of our coven, so you won’t be meeting her for a bit.” Nishihiro answered as he finally sat down into their small circle.

“Well, I’m sure you guys have a lot of questions, but right now the both of you need to rest, doctor’s orders.” Suyama said and Sakaeguchi smiled.

“I’ll take you guys to your rooms, you do need to rest.” He stood up and grabbed one of the bags closer to himself, picking up another one as he moved, watching from the corner of his eye how Nishihiro stood up and did the same, and led the way out of the room while Abe and Hanai trailed after them.

All of them had their rooms on the second floor, with the exception of Momokan and Shinooka, who slept on the first floor, so they made their way up the stairs and through the corridors until they found two of the four spare rooms in that floor.

“Okay so, those rooms are empty right now so you can just put yourselves at home, the bathroom’s right there.” He pointed down the end of the hall where a dark door stood.

“Welcome to the Nishiura coven.” Nishihiro smiled brightly as he handed them their bags and together he and Sakaeguchi waved a bit and made their way back down, leaving Abe and Hanai in the corridor.

“You can take the bathroom first.” Abe said and waited until Hanai nodded to go into one of the rooms, closing the door behind himself and setting his bags on the floor before falling into the comfy bed, exhaustion crawling through his body. He was dozing off when a soft knock sounded on his door.

“Abe? You can go in now.” Hanai’s voice sounded from the other side of the wood, and Abe stood up, catching his bag as he went and opening the door to find Hanai in the corridor.

“I’m going to take the room right across.” The taller boy mumbled and Abe nodded before he bid him goodnight and got into the bathroom.

He started the shower and washed quickly, wanting nothing more than to go back to the bed and get lost in dreamland for a bit. Getting dressed in a haste, he hurried out of the bathroom and into the unfamiliar room, ignoring the small feeling of nostalgia that seized him suddenly and instead burrowing himself into the covers, closing his eyes and quickly going to sleep.

* * *

 

When Sakaeguchi and Nishihiro went back down the stairs and into the living room, where the others still were, but in different positions; Izumi was back to lying in the couch, their head in Oki’s lap as Suyama pressed his hands against their forehead.

The moment they entered the room, however, Suyama sat back in his heels and peered at Izumi’s face carefully, his shoulders visibly relaxing when the other opened their blue eyes.

“How are they?” asked Sakaeguchi as he moved a chair to sit nearer the couch, Nishihiro following him.

“Very exhausted. Their brain took quite a bit of the banshee’s attack, and to sum it up there’s the vision they had in the morning and Momokan was not lying when she said it was frying their brain, if you hadn’t escaped on time and gotten attacked by another banshee I doubt they’d be still barely conscious, and add to that that it was more than one banshee and, well…” Suyama sighed before continuing. “If you hadn’t gotten out of there on time, Izumi could have died. The overall load in their brain was too much, it’s really a wonder they lasted as much. Any other would have passed out right away, even before the banshee screamed. Those things have nasty thought waves.” Suyama concluded, looking grim.

“That’s just to show how powerful I am.” Izumi groaned as they opened one eye.

“Hey Izumi, how are you?” Nishihiro asked.

“Besides the fact that I passed out right after you guys left the room? Not bad actually.” They closed their eyes again. “I just feel as if my brain was passed through a blender, it feels like a smoothie thanks to that damn banshee.”

“You do remember what happened though?” Suyama inquired.

“Think so, things are a little fuzzy but I do remember them.”

“That’s good then, it means there was no permanent damage to your brain and that you should just go back to normal after a few day’s rest.”

“If you say so doc. God, why do every single fairy and dryad think so loud?” Izumi grimaced. “At least both Abe and Hanai are sleeping, their thoughts are really loud too, especially Abe’s, and now to top it off they’re jumbled.” Izumi muttered, massaging their forehead.

“Speaking of that.” Oki looked at Sakaeguchi and then down at Izumi. “How come you guys just brought them to the coven? Are you sure we can trust them?”

“Yeah, I was wondering that too. Not that I think they’re shady or anything, but normally no ordinary person without a little magic in their blood has come into the coven in years.” Suyama interjected.

“Wait, shouldn’t we take Izumi to their room before having this conversation?” Nishihiro looked anxiously at all of them, but Izumi waved him off with their hand.

“Nah, go ahead, it’s fine, you guys all have super strong mental blocks and besides, I want to know what you talk about.” They said without even opening their eyes and Sakaeguchi smiled.

“The both of us have known them since high school, they’re both good guys, even if Abe’s a bit taciturn he means well.”

“Yeah, both of them are kind of idiots, since they hadn’t realized Sakaeguchi and I were magical but whatever, we didn’t realize they both had the Sight so I guess it’s the same.” Izumi added and Oki nodded.

“I wanted to ask about that too; how come both of them have the Sight?  Not many people do anymore.”

“Hanai says he’s always had it, ever since he was little so he doesn’t remember what happened to him, and Abe gained it when he was in elementary school, so it’s been quite a while as well.” Sakaeguchi answered and Oki nodded, understanding that the stories behind that statement weren’t his to tell, and that they would have to learn them from the other boy’s themselves.

“I have another question. Why did you go see them today when Momokan told you strictly to rest today?” Nishihiro asked Izumi and this time they did open their eyes.

“It was just a feeling, you know? Something that told me that I should be there with them for some reason, something that seemed really important, so I went and Sakaeguchi caught me sneaking out and demanded to come with me.”

“I didn’t demand, I was just curios and worried, you had almost died this morning, I couldn’t let you go alone.” Sakaeguchi amended, cheeks slightly pink.

“Well, I’d be curious too, it’s not every day you go all psychic prophesies on us, Izumi.” Suyama said with a grin and the other rolled their eyes.

“What now, though? From what you say they don’t really have anywhere else to go.” Oki said and Nishihiro nodded.

“Yeah, that. It would be dangerous for them to stay here for too long, there’s too much magic in the air.”

“I was thinking about maybe training them a bit so that they could get rid of the monsters on their own before they go anywhere else.” Sakaeguchi explained, and was met by thoughtful expressions.

“Yeah, that might not be bad idea. If my vision and the feeling in my gut is correct, then things are about to get really, really bad and it wouldn’t be good for them to be caught up in the middle of whatever it is going to happen without knowing how to defend themselves.”

“Mm, yeah it wouldn’t be bad at all.” Suyama mused and then his eyes light up. “Maybe we could all teach them a bit of our knowledge on how to deal with monsters, that way they get different points of view.”

“Sounds good.” Nishihiro nodded with a slight grin.

“Yeah, I’m in.” Oki chimed and Sakaeguchi smiled.

“Good, thanks guys. Now we probably should go to bed as well, it is quite late already.”

“God, yes please, let me sleep.” Izumi moaned and started to sit up.

“Why do you wanna go to bed anyway? It’s not like you’re actually going to sleep, you’re just going to have more visons.” Nishihiro wondered and Izumi groaned in torment.

“I think I’ll just take something to sleep, I don’t feel like having any more visions today.” They said as they marched out of the room and up the stairs with the others in tow.

“Yeah, you really should do that so that your brain can heal properly.” Suyama added and Izumi nodded.

“It is decided then, I shall take a sleeping draught.”

“No, don’t take one of those, it takes forever to wake you up in the morning if you do.” Oki looked at them pleadingly while Suyama chuckled.

“I think we should let them just sleep tomorrow, they do need to heal after all.” He said as they all stopped in the corridor, and Izumi grinned at him a little before going into their room, the others doing the same after bidding each other good night.

When Sakaeguchi went into his room, he headed straight for the lamp in his night table and lighted it before checking the condition of the wards around the house, putting a little more magic on them to keep them strong before smiling slightly and plopping down into his mattress, the softness of the blankets never seeming more appealing than now as he slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

 

Mihashi yawned for the umpteenth time that morning, slowly and carefully watering his dying plants to avoid wetting his floor again.

He’d woken up early that day, too early for his liking, but his mind had decided that it was a good idea to get up at five a.m., and it hadn’t allowed him to sleep since then, even though now, currently at nine a.m. he was almost falling asleep on his feet.

He continued watering the herbs, movements sluggish and eyes closing every few seconds, and he only stopped when he finally realized he’d been standing in front of the open window holding an empty vase, zooning out again. His cheeks reddened even though he was alone in the apartment, and quickly put the watering pot down, his shoulders raising in mortification as he made his way to the kitchen, quickly setting the kettle to boil and grabbing a mug to get some tea, thinking that maybe that would wake him up for real.

When the scarce water he’d put on the kettle boiled and he’d served himself some tea, he stood before the open window, enjoying the fresh air of the morning and the soft caress of the sun on his skin, sipping at his tea as he watched the clouds pass by, smelling that particular scent that is so characteristic of mornings, a combination of dew and sunlight and soil, feeling his nerves finally settling down, even if he wasn’t aware he was nervous in the first place.

Setting down his now empty cup on the windowsill, he turned and walked into his bedroom to change his clothes, getting ready for the day. When he was halfway, however, barely pulling down his shirt a sudden knock sounded on the door, and he froze in place as he stared in terror through the open door of his room, hands still clasping the bottom of his shirt. The second knock pulled him out of his trance, and he scrambled to change his pajama pants and pulling on a pair of sweatpants before scurrying to the door and cracking it open a little to see who it was.

Tajima’s smiling, sun kissed face appeared in the other side, and Mihashi pulled the door open a bit more.

“T-tajima-kun!”

“Hey Mihashi! How are ya?” the boy asked and smiled even more.

“I-I-I-I’m…fine” Mihashi stuttered out while fidgeting, eyes trained on the floor.

“Good, good. Say can I come in?” Tajima asked and watched in amusement as Mihashi rushed to open the door while nodding his head in rapid succession. However, as he was going to step in, he was interrupted by a small ball of light brown hair that passed through his legs, halting his movements.

“E-emi!” Mihashi exclaimed, his whole face lighting up in happiness as he knelt down on the floor to pet the tiny animal, who allowed him to run his hands through her fur, her ears twitching in pleasure, tails flicking from side to side lazily.

“Emi wanted to come too, she practically stuck to my side as soon as I left the house, I think she was waiting for me at the door.” Tajima explained as he closed the door behind himself and looked around the apartment. “Nice place you got here.” He commented as he wandered around the small flat, looking at anything and everything while Mihashi continued petting the fox.

“Mm, I j-just moved in so…”

“Hee, I see why everything is so tidy then.” Tajima turned to face him, hands resting on his hips as Mihashi got up when Emi decided she’d had enough attention and darted into the kitchen.

“Oh! That’s right! I brought you the thing.” Tajima dug around his pocket before taking out a small, transparent fabric bag tied with a white ribbon, the herbs resting safely inside.

“Tha-thank you!” Mihashi grabbed it with careful hands and looked at it lovingly, but then his shoulders raised and he looked at the bag, then at Tajima, then at the window, then back at the bag and then at Tajima.

“Do you want to use it now?” Tajima asked, and congratulated himself when he saw Mihashi’s shoulders raise a bit more when he was discovered and nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the floor to Tajima’s left. “Go ahead then! I don’t mind.” The ginger boy looked at him with stars in his eyes and he grinned a bit.

“O-okay! I’ll just… get! What I need!” he stumbled to the kitchen, where he’d stored in a high shelf all of his potion’s ingredients, and grabbed all he needed before coming back to the living room, softly setting down everything on the windowsill as Tajima stood beside him. He quickly drew a float rune in his hand with a piece of charcoal and made the cup he used earlier go floating into the kitchen as Tajima watched in amazement.

“Woah! You can use bodily magic! That’s so cool!” he exclaimed, eyes wide and Mihashi just grinned a bit goofily before wiping the rune and setting everything for the enchantment.

“What’s that? Rain water?” Tajima asked as the other grabbed a small vial of glittering, crystalline water, and Mihashi nodded.

“Woah, that bow is so cool! What is it made of?” Tajima asked as Mihashi placed a few drops of the water in a black, glittering bowl.

“It’s! Onyx stone! It helps…with the spell.” The boy added to the bowl a few leaves of the bright green herb, placing them carefully in the center of the basin, the bottom of the leaf touching the drops of water, and then placing the pot right in the middle of the windowsill.

“Woah, I’ve never actually seen anyone do magic.” Tajima confessed as he watched Mihashi placed four small, rounded crystals on each side of the bowl, but he paused his movements at the announcement.

“Then… Tajima-kun should…” he glanced at the floor and at Tajima before dashing to his room and returning a second later with a smallish light blue stone in his hands and presenting it to Tajima, who took it with curiosity.

“It’s… agate! To ward against… anything!” he explained, slightly breathless and looked at Tajima expectantly.

“Thanks Mihashi! You really are cool” he grinned and Mihashi blushed again, muttering a small “ehehehe” as he moved back in front of the window.

“You should… stand back a b-bit.” He said and Tajima blinked.

“Oh! Right” he quickly corrected his position, standing a few paces back to Mihashi’s left, holding the stone with both hands in front of his body.

Mihashi picked back up the charcoal piece and started drawing intricate runes across his left arm, finishing with a circular one in his palm before pocketing the black stick.

He placed his arm forward, palm to the bowl as he suspended his right hand over the plants and sighing once before he started chanting.

“ _Ith druth et lier, clisp thar quad hem._ ” He said in a steady voice, nothing like his usual stutter, closing his eyes briefly before opening them back, his pupils glowing. “ _thuem sieltham, behet niians theug, dahanfuet kieuplem._ ” As he chanted, the temperature in the room raised, and the water in the bow started glowing as well, while the leaves started leaking a green liquid that joined the glittering water while the leaves shrunk in the bowl, and Tajima watched in awe as the liquid mixed together, then started going up the air and into Mihashi’s outstretched palm, traveling up the runes in his arm before sinking into the skin of his elbow. “ _xian le uzamtha soendo inthquielthem._ ” As he said this, the palm of his right hand started glowing and a few drops of a silvery liquid fell into the wilting plants, which started raising their leaves to receive the warm glow until it stopped, Mihashi’s eyes going back to normal and his body sagging a bit.  He blinked twice before looking at Tajima, then looking back at his now living plants and smiling a blinding smile.

“Mihashiii! That was so cool!” Tajima bounced forward now, seeing as the enchantment had finished successfully.

“It wasn’t a di-difficult spell.” He muttered, blushing again.

“Even so! It was so cool!” Tajima bounced around the other boy, still holding the agate.

“Tajima-kun is! A good person!” Mihashi stuttered and Tajima laughed merrily.

“And you’re really cool! See, I told you I knew you were powerful!”

“I’m n-not really-” Mihashi started but was interrupted by his stomach churning loudly, and Tajima blinked.

“Are you hungry?”

“A bit… magic consumes e-energy a-and…” he fidgeted again, looking at the floor.

“Huh, seems obvious I guess.”

“Does Tajima-kun want to ha-have… breakfast?” Mihashi asked and Tajima blinked again.

“You can cook?” he asked and Mihashi nodded briefly, while Tajima looked at him in admiration. “That’s so cool Mihashi! I would really like to!” Mihashi looked really happy as he made his way to the kitchen, Tajima trailing after him and a hungry Emi appearing once again. Mihashi moved quickly around the kitchen, picking up pots and pans as he went, setting everything on top of the counter and then making his way to the fridge to pick up the ingredients he’d need.

“Need any help?” Tajima asked as he leaned into the counter, Emi quickly climbing on it as well and curling into a small ball of fur, settling to watch Mihashi as he shook his head.

“N-no, it’s alright…” the ginger boy set everything onto the counter and started to work under the curious gaze of the other and the small fox.

“Okay then. What are we having?”

“P-pancakes, they’re f-faster to…make.”

“Awesome! I love pancakes.” The tanned boy supported his head in his hands, stars in his eyes as he watched the other’s swift movements. They stayed like that, quiet for a while, the only sound being that one of Mihashi mixing the ingredients to make the batter, and then the sizzling sound of the pancakes being cooked in the stove as Mihashi set the table, this time with both Tajima’s and Emi’s help.

However, the silence only lasted until the food was ready and they sat at the table, Tajima giving loud thanks for the food before digging in and pausing in amazement.

“Woah, these are amazing, Mihashi!” the dark haired boy exclaimed, the small brown fox chirping her agreement as she munched happily on her portion of pancakes. Suddenly, the small fox stared intently at Mihashi and Tajima snorted at whatever it was she’d said.

“Oi! No way!” the freckled boy exclaimed in mock offence, laughing when the animal ignored him and continued eating her food, her tails swishing from side to side in happiness. “Emi says she’s going to come live with you.” Tajima informed Mihashi and the latter smiled a little. After that, they ate in comfortable chatter, most of it coming from the shorter boy and his fox, with the occasional chirp from Mihashi, until their plates were completely clean from their late breakfast.

“Man that was awesome! Thanks for the food, Mihashi!” Tajima exclaimed, and Emi rubbed against his legs, much like a cat would, to show her gratefulness.

“It’s okay! It was…nice, ha-having company!” Mihashi said, blushing happily when Tajima smiled at him.

“What do we do now? Do you have anything to do today?” Tajima asked the ginger, arms folded and hands resting in the back of his head, and he waited until the other shook his head to suggest with a grin. “We should go out then! Emi and I will give you a tour of the city!” he headed to the door, Emi fast on his heel and Mihashi smiled before following, excited to get to know his new home for real this time, and make it feel a bit more like the home he’d been missing for so many years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now folks!   
> ~~I've always wanted to say that~~ (°∀°)  
>  What do you think of this chapter? Please tell me your thoughts, i love getting feedback, it gives me life  
> let's talk! on [tumblr](http://nishinoya-senpaai.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/_zukiria) i don't bite!!  
> See you next time!~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haven't gone to bed yet so technically it's still sunday and therefore i am not late (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞  
> warnings for this chapter are mentions of blood and a sort of explicit sleep paralysis, so please be careful.

Nishihiro was sure he was having a nightmare.

Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared out of his wits, and he would have pissed his pants if not for the knowledge that this was, in fact, just a dream, and it would end sooner or later.

As a witch, he was mostly used to nightmares, having them for the most of his life, the bad dreams plaguing his dreams ever since he could remember, and this one in particular wasn’t even a bad one, no monsters or slaughter or gory scenes seemingly out of a movie, it was mostly a normal one, and it would be considered a normal dream if it wasn’t because of the oppressing feeling in his whole body, the pain in his chest and the feeling of hopelessness he couldn’t seem to get rid of.

Again, all of that he could stand, having experienced those feelings before, but the impeding feeling of doom, the something that told him that there was something awfully wrong, _that_ he wasn’t used to and could not deal with it accordingly. It didn’t help the fact that he knew that witches were the weakest when sleeping, vulnerable to anything and everything that could cause them harm, possess them or even worse, kill them in their sleep. Their house was warded, yes, protected in every way by Sakaeguchi’s strong shields, and it wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in his friend’s abilities and powers to keep the magic up, it was just that there were some things that could get to them even through the shield, and he would not admit it, but after Izumi’s vision from that morning he’d been shaken to the core, even more when his two coven mates came back from an attack with two other boys in tow, bruised and bloodied and Suyama had announced that Izumi could have died, it scared him to think of all that, and it had triggered his nightmare.

That knowledge, along with the paralyzing feelings he had were not helping his condition at all, keeping his body locked and incapable of waking it up, but his mind was awake and that helped him too, since it eliminated the fear of being possessed by some unknown force of evil. Slowly, he started regaining the feeling of his limbs, his breathing slowing down and the pain in his head receding, his thoughts clearing from the haze of near panic he’d been about to breach. Even so, he kept his eyes closed, in fear that if he opened them it would start all over again, perhaps even worse.

It felt like hours later when it finally stopped completely, his body sagging against the mattress, exhausted from the lack of sleep and the great mental burden he’d just endured. He blinked wearily, and raised a shaky hand to his forehead, rubbing at his eyes to clear and adjust them to the darkened bedroom.

Body still trembling, he rose from the bed, pushing the tangled sheets back from his sweaty body and sat against the bedframe, leaning his head back and closing his eyes as he breathed deeply, willing all traces from the nightmare to disappear, even if he knew he wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep any time soon.

Stumbling a bit, he stood up from his place on the bed, quickly making his way to the window and opening the curtains to reveal the clearing skies, clouds obscuring the light from the rapidly approaching dawn.

He unlocked the latch and cracked open the window, just a silver to allow the fresh air to come into the room, but not at all expecting the sudden breeze that hit him square on the face, whipping his hair around and making him splutter and wheeze for breath. The wind grew stronger, and he quickly closed the window, forgetting his idea of fresh air in favor of sparing his lungs the extra hard work, and instead watched the movement of the trees in the strong draft, the branches stirring with the currents of wind, shifting from side to side in almost soothing manners, and he leaned his forehead against the cold glass as he watched them, feeling his heart beat decreasing and the dread disappearing from his body completely.

The first droplets of water that crashed against the window glass surprised him, moving back and opening his eyes to see the quickly falling rain that soon took strength and turned into a downpour, almost obstructing his vision of the trees with the curtain of water falling from the sky.

A sudden shout outside startled him, and he peered down to find a few fairies running away from the water and into the trees, while others stayed where they were and received the rain with open arms, some even dancing in the wet grass. He huffed out a laugh when a couple gnomes joined the impromptu party, trying to make an elaborate pirouette but slipping on a patch of mud and falling flat on their faces, some of the fairies laughing at their misfortune while other fairies continued to dance in joy.

He moved back from the window quickly when the fairies started forming a circle, and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the imprint on his retinas while he made his way back to his bed, throwing himself into the pillows and wiggling under the blankets, yawning.

Maybe he could get back to sleep, after all, he thought as his body relaxed into the warmth of the bed, the soothing pitter patter of rain against the window and the whistle of wind outside lulling him back into a dreamless sleep.  

 

When he woke back up a few hours later, it was morning already, althought it wasn't apparent from the poor lighting coming from the window. The rain was still falling as if from buckets of water, and the wind kept rattling the trees, as if trying to rip them by the root from the ground.

Nishihiro grunted as he sat up, feeling a bit more rested after the nightmare, but still not quite in a hundred percent of his strength.

Slipping out of his bed, he grimaced at the cold in the room, quickly finding a set of fresh clothes and then heading to the bathroom, praying for it to be unoccupied so that he could shower quickly, and he thanked his lucky stars when he pushed the door open and it gave without a problem.

He washed and dressed quickly, trying to avoid the freezing air of the cold morning, making his way back to his room to drop his laundry and then going down the stairs, planning to get started on breakfast if no one was awake yet.

However, when he neared the kitchen he heard voices, and paused before swinging the door open.

“-you think he’s okay? I really don’t see him that well and I’m worried about him.” Oki’s voice floated through the wooden door and Nishihiro raised his eyebrows.

“I know, I don’t see him well either, he’s too worried about everything and I don’t want him to collapse again.” Suyama’s voice answered before sighing. “I wish Momokan hadn’t gone away, it’s always so hard when she does, and especially now with Izumi’s vision, the air is too tense.”

“I don’t like it either, it was definitely not a good moment for Momokan to go, but I guess it had to be done. All we can do now is support Sakaeguchi in every way we can so that he doesn’t stress out and break down again.” Nishihiro rubbed a hand on his face and sighed before finally opening the door.

“Good morning.” He says as he enter the kitchen, and watches as two heads turn in his direction, and Oki smiles at him.

“Good morning, there’s coffee on the pot.” He points to the red little kettle settled in the stove, and Nishihiro hurries to retrieve a mug and serve himself some much needed coffee, sitting beside Suyama at the table with the steaming cup.

“Was it supposed to rain this hard today? I don’t remember you saying anything about it.” Suyama asked him as he took a bite from his toast, and he sipped at his coffee before answering.

“It wasn’t really expected, a storm this size usually shows up days before, but this one was sudden.” He replied.

“It hasn’t stopped raining at all since I woke up, the water just keeps falling. The roads are going to be impossible to travel if this keeps on.” Oki mused absentmindedly as he stirred the herbs in his mug with a wooden little spoon.

“Mhm, I can’t seem to control it though, I can’t sense the main clouds.” Nishihiro frowned a bit as he grabbed a few cookies from a tray.

“Do you think it’s a magic related storm?” Suyama asked, holding his cup with both hands and blowing gently on the steam.

“I don’t know, but it could be, it has all the signs. When I woke up at dawn it started with strong winds and then all of a sudden it was pouring.” He mentioned and the other two witches frowned.

“That definitely sounds weird.”

“Good morning!” Sakaeguchi appeared through the door and grabbed a close cup to get some tea as the others answered his cheery call.

“Quite the storm we have up, huh? Do you know what caused it, Nishihiro?” he asked as he sat himself beside Oki, gratefully taking the honey that the latter passed him.

“I have no idea, but it’s not a natural storm.” Nishihiro replied as he drank the last of his coffee and grabbed more cookies.

“Maybe it’s an angry weather spirit throwing a tantrum?” Sakaeguchi mused and Nishihiro hummed.

“It could be, since the storm is of an obvious magical origin.”

“Let’s just hope it’ll pass soon, I can’t see the dryads being very happy about their trees almost being ripped.” Suyama added as he finished his toast. Unexpectedly, a loud sound came from the other side of the door, seemingly heavy weight tumbling down the stairs and they all startled, wiping their heads in almost unison to stare at the door, which was promptly slammed open, and a heavily panting Izumi appeared in the doorway, eyes frantic, still in their pajamas with blood drying on the sides of his neck and down his face from his nose.

“I hate these fucking visions.” Was all they managed to say before they fainted.

* * *

 

Abe woke with a start, noticing his new surroundings and starting to panic before he remembered where he was, willing his heart to calm down as he registered the empty room, noticing the rain crashing against the window and the quick knocks on the door. He hurried out of the mess of blankets that was his new bed and threw open the door to find a disheveled Hanai, arm raised as if to knock again.

“Something happened.” Was all the taller boy said before turning around and quickly climbing down the stairs, and Abe cursed as he followed him as fast as his still sleepy brain allowed him. Nonetheless, when they entered the same room they’d crashed in their arrival yesterday, all the sleep ran out of his body when he saw a bloodied Izumi lying on the couch.

“-It’s not good at all, I’m telling you, and it’s coming soon. We have to warn Momokan, it’s dangerous and there’s no way of stopping it from this side.” Izumi was saying, blue eyes wide and face pale beneath his freckles.

“I know Izumi, we’ve already sent a message.” Sakaeguchi replied, trying to calm the panicking Izumi.

“Are you sure it’s coming this way?” Oki asked, face pale.

“What is _it_ , by the way?” Nishihiro added and Izumi shook their head.

“I have no idea what the fuck it is, only that it’s big and powerful and _evil_ and it’s going to pass close enough from us to sense us and coming here.”

“We’ll do something about it.” Suyama promised, though he also looked slightly pale. “You need to calm down for now, we can’t have you having another vision in this state, it would be very dangerous.” He stated firmly and Izumi nodded, closing their eyes and breathing carefully and elaborately.

“Um, what exactly happened?” Hanai asked as both he and Abe joined the group crowding the couch.

“Izumi had a vision, something powerful is coming and it’s going to pass near here.” Oki answered quickly and Abe raised his eyebrows.

“And that is bad because…?” he prompted, and this time Izumi answered, their eyes still closed.

“I don’t know what the hell it is, but it’s from the Middle Realm, it probably can sense magic, it’s very, very powerful and more than most likely really evil.”

“What’s the Middle Realm?” Hanai asked this time.

“It’s how the space between this, the human world, and the god realm is called. There are several realms, the magical realm being one, there’s also the Demonic field, the shadow realm as stupid as it sounds, and the Cloudlands, and none of the things that come from any of those are nice.” Sakaeguchi answered looking grim.

“Okay, so the parallel universe theory is actually right. I can’t believe this.” Hanai muttered in awe.

“You know, it was actually a witch that proposed that theory, knowing it was true but without any ways of demonstrating it since normal humans don’t have the Sight, and in the end it became just a theory.” Nishihiro explained, and Hanai blinked at him.

“Nishihiro reads a lot.” Oki supplied and Hanai nodded this time, even though it was as if in a daze.

“There’s something coming.” Sakaeguchi announced suddenly and they all went on edge.

"Fucking amazing." Izumi muttered quietly, eyes still closed and brows creased.

“What is it?” Suyama asked anxiously, but Sakaeguchi shook his head, both of them ignoring the psychic.

“I don’t know, but it’s coming from the forest and heading straight to us.”

“Can you see anything, Izumi?” Oki asked but the other shook their head as well.

“I can’t, I’m too tired from that last vision. Sorry guys.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.” Suyama reassured and Izumi nodded weakly before closing their eyes again.

“Nishihiro?” Abe asked as he saw the other boy separate from the back to the couch and head to the nearest window, pressing his palm on the glass.

“I can’t sense much, but there’s no trace of any black magic coming from whatever it is.” He announced, hand still placed on the cold window crystal.

“You can’t sense what it is?” Suyama asked.

“No, there’s too much interfering, the storm is still too strong for me to see anything clearly.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see what it is and what it wants, it might even pass us by.” Sakaeguchi said, and the others nodded. A while passed without any new incidents, and they all waited in baited silence, expecting something to spring at them in any moment.

“Oki, do you have any restoring potions?” Suyama asked as he monitored Izumi, his hand pressed in the other’s chest.

“I think I do, do you want me to get one?” the brown haired boy asked, and Suyama nodded.

“I think it would be better if Izumi drank some, they’ve lost a lot of blood already, and the restoring potion would help them to heal faster overall.” Oki nodded and disappeared out of the door, the sound of his footsteps going up the stairs fast.

“Am I really looking that bad, doc?” Izumi joked, cracking open one eye.

“Not really, it could be worse. I just want to make sure that you get better faster” Suyama smiled, and the door opened to reveal Oki coming back with a dark green flask. Sakaeguchi helped Izumi to sit on the couch, Suyama handing them the open vial and they took it with a grimace, placing it on their lips and drinking from it.

“Ugh, I can’t never get used to the taste of this potion.” They winced and lay back down on the couch, handing the half empty bottle back to Suyama, who screwed it shut and set it on the floor.

Loud sudden knocks on the front door startled everyone, and Sakaeguchi got up to go answer it, Nishihiro following close behind.

The shorter boy opened the door, and the strong gust of air quickly forced it open wider, revealing for all of them to see a boy, not much older than all of them, with auburn hair and dressed in a traditional Japanese red hakama and haori, soaked to the bone and smiling goofily.

“Do you mind if I stay here until the storm passes? I was sleeping in the forest, but the dryads are really pissed with how much wind there is, and I thought it would be best if I left them to express their anger in peace.” The young man grinned. “My name is Mizutani Fumiki, it’s a pleasure to meet you!”

* * *

 

Izumi was pissed.

They were not normally a very patient person, and if you add to that that they were having an especially shitty week, it was only expected for them to get cranky and more sarcastic than usual. That said, they thought they were controlling it pretty nicely, this time at least, keeping the cutting remarks to a minimum and not being as angry as they could have been, given the situation.

Even so, they had to admit they were almost at their limit.

First it was the brain-frying vision yesterday morning, not even taking into account the traumatic events of said vision, then it was the bloody banshee and the attack on two of their friends who could have, in fact, died if they hadn’t gone and pestered to stay with them, then it was the vision this morning, and the consequences and all the planning and preparations involved to protect them from whatever the hell was it that had it out for them, and now, to top it off, it was the very loud estranger sitting calmly in a chair by the window, sipping happily on some tea that Oki’s kind soul had made them to avoid hypothermia, dressed in their clothes because apparently everyone else’s just would not fit.

They stared at the newly arrived boy, almost glaring at him, and trying desperately to put up their much weakened mental walls, making any effort to block the voice of the auburn haired boy, who exclaimed loudly in amazement at everything in the room. And it wasn’t even like if the boy was talking, but his thoughts were so loud and his magic so unrestrained and wild, that it was hard for Izumi not to throw up his hands in the air and announce loudly that they were done and were going to take a nap.

The silence in the room besides the excited new guest was almost crushing in anticipation as every other occupant of the house looked at the boy, Mizutani he’d said, in wonder, trying to gauge who he was and where’d he come from. Izumi felt his eyebrow twitch at the thoughts of two particular people, and willed themselves to stay quiet and in peace as they thanked their past self for having the very good thought of teaching their coven mates strong mental walls. As the minutes ticked however, they became more and more annoyed by Hanai’s fantastic and Abe’s pessimistic thoughts, having to listen to every single little thing that ran through their minds because their mental shields were nonexistent, and also having to listen to the disconnected thoughts of the new arrival, causing them an overall headache and making him crankier than before.

“Okay, that’s it, I can’t fucking take this anymore. Abe, I don’t think he’s going to kill us all, and Hanai, no, just _no_.” they grabbed their head with both hands as they felt everyone turning to stare at them because of the sudden outburst. “Who are you? Why is your magic so untrained?” they deadpanned, staring at the auburn boy who winced.

“I- I’m a witch just like all of you-“ he started but Izumi interrupted.

“Cut the crap, you’re not an ordinary witch, you have another power. Don’t try to hide it from me and just tell me, I’m a psychic and will not hesitate to cut open your brain to find out.”

“Izumi!” Sakaeguchi reprimanded as the stranger shrunk in fright, but they ignored him and kept looking at the stranger until he talked.

“I’m Mizutani, but I said that already, didn’t I?” he laughed a bit goofily, but stopped abruptly at Izumi’s unimpressed look. “I’m a shapeshifter!” he squeaked out quickly and Izumi leaned back into the couch, interested.

“Elaborate.” They commanded and Mizutani nodded.

“I’m from a witch tribe, we’re not really known since we barely have any contact with humans from a long time back, let alone your current society. It’s a power that’s passed down in my village, I can shapeshift into a tanuki at will.” He explained and Izumi nodded thoughtfully but then frowned.

“Wait, that’s not all is it? Because that doesn’t explain all of this magic I’m feeling from you.”

“Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask. You’re harsh, you know?” he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “It’s the power from my family, I can make fire magic.” This time the pieces clicked and Izumi nodded in satisfaction.

“Fire magic? What is that?” Hanai asked in wonder.

“It’s a really scarce power, it’s not very common in witches, I think just one or two families on history are recorded to have that power.” Oki explained briefly.

“Not only that, but people with the power of fire are really powerful, since they can control at will one of the four basic natural elements. And like Oki said, there are about two families who are recognized to have the power, but from time to time a witch has the power born with them, even if there is no trace of fire in their blood, and those witches are usually very powerful.” Nishihiro chimed and Hanai nodded in understanding.

“You forgot evil. Most of those witches became easily susceptible to dark magic, and they lost their soul trying to get more power.” Izumi grunted and Mizutani widened his eyes.

“I’m not bad! It really is a family power!”

“We know, Izumi was just commenting.” Sakaeguchi interjected, sighing as he rubbed at his eyes. “Point is, fire magic is powerful, dangerous and not very nicely received in the magic community, for the reasons Izumi said.” He explained to Hanai before looking back at Mizutani. “You said your family lives in a tribe that hasn’t had contact with the magic world in a long time, yes?”

“Yeah, it’s located deep in the mountains, surrounded by forest. I don’t think they have had contact with other human communities at all, not just magical ones.” He corrected and Suyama nodded.

“That makes sense, actually. A shapeshifter community wouldn’t be well received in general either. Is your family important inside of your community?” Suyama asked and Mizutani nodded, confused.

“Yes, but how did you know? Are you a psychic too?” he inquired and Suyama smiled.

“No, Izumi’s the only psychic we have.”

“And what would you do without me, you poor souls would be lost.” The mentioned Izumi said as they laid their head in the couch’s backrest.

“And as for how I knew, it just makes sense. A shapeshifter community that is also run discreetly by a fire blooded family, it would be logical for them to go into hiding.” Suyama explained, ignoring Izumi’s input.

“How did you find our house though? I thought you lived far away…?” Oki mused, looking at Mizutani expectantly.

“Ah, yes, I followed the magic field. It let me pass through without a problem, and I slept by the water stream until it started raining.”

“Well, that’s that then. If Sakaeguchi’s magical ward let you pass then we have nothing to worry about.” Nishihiro concluded and the others nodded.

“Actually, we should call Momokan again, let her know we’re having a guest.” Sakaeguchi said, and stood up. “I’m going to do that, I’ll be right back.” He went out of the room and Izumi followed him with their mind, seeing as he climbed up the stairs and went into his room.

“Izumi.” They were snapped out of their musings as Abe occupied the seat Sakaeguchi had just left.

“Yeah?” they answered, looking at Abe from the corner of their eyes, noticing the dark shadows under his eyes.

“Can you explain all of this to me? There are some things I’d like to know, in particular about everything that is happening.” He continued and Izumi raised an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you curious about Mizutani, though? I thought you distrusted him?” Izumi asked and Abe shook his head.

“You guys say he’s not dangerous, and I trust your judgement. Besides, I want to help, but I don’t know how, and I figured that if I learned a bit more I’d be more useful.” Abe blushed a little, barely noticeable under his tan skin, but Izumi saw and couldn’t help but tease him a little.

“My, Abe, how solicited of you. I didn’t pegged you to be so interested in the supernatural stuff.” they smirked at the others dark scowl.

“Shut up. I’m not… look, are you going to help or not?” he grunted and Izumi’s smirk vanished.

“You’re worried, I get it. I am too, and so is everyone else. The things that are happening right now are not even common occurrences for us, let alone you and Hanai.” He sighed, feeling the sharp throb of their head again, closing their eyes. “I can’t really help you right now. For one, I don’t know much and probably couldn’t explain clearly.” they lied, and Abe sent him a questioning glare. “And second, Suyama won’t let me out of this couch in case I pass out again, my brain feels like jelly at this point, and I don’t think I could stand for more than two minutes.” They said, feeling Abe glaring holes into their skin. “Don’t look at me like that, Nishihiro can probably do it, he’s real smart and knows lots of things. He’ll be happy to help, so go ask him.” Abe grunted and stood up, heading towards the circle that surrounded Mizutani, where Hanai was asking him questions, Oki fretted and Nishihiro watched in amusement, while Suyama had gone upstairs to check on Sakaeguchi and offer help.

A particular strong flash of pain passed through their skull, and Izumi closed their eyes, leaning their head back and suddenly the scenery changed, turning into the barre, dark lands of the Middle realm, where a portal shone brightly in the otherwise black sky, and big creatures moved towards it, taking flight and hovering near, but not yet daring to go through. One of them passed uncomfortably close to Izumi, and they choked out a gasp, eyes widening when they realized what it was. But then they were ripped out of the vision, their body feeling like lead, yet at the same time oddly disconnected from every sense of touch, vision and smell, falling into the dark and losing consciousness for a moment before feeling the fresh, familiar tinge of magic of the living room, distantly registering rapid footsteps and frantic voices.

They managed to gather enough strength to open their eyes just as Sakaeguchi and Suyama came rushing back to the room, and their eyes centered on the former, staring intently and vaguely registering the new lying down position of their body and the dampness of the cushion under their face.

“I know what’s coming.” Their voice sounded weird, frantic even to their own ears, and they watched as the other’s faces became grim and pale before the world tilted back, their vision going askew and they were swallowed by darkness once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i didn't mean to make Izumi suffer this much oh my god i am a Terrible Person™  
> i'm still suffering by the latest botws update so my eyes are totally red and puffy and i can't see very well so please excuse any mistakes you might find, if you point them out i'll be sure to fix them asap  
> what do you think of this chapter? the plot it's starting to move forward but fret not! shit hasn't really hit the fan yet (`･ω･´)  
> please drop me a kudo and/or a comment if you like it, i'm really curious about who actually likes my fic ʕᵔᴥᵔʔ  
> see you next time!~


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so awfully late with this update and I have no more excuses other than it was hotter than the seventh circle of hell where i live and i could barely breathe.  
> Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any new warning so i'm just gonna let you read in peace, enjoy the chapter!!

Agitated knocking sounded in the dark apartment, echoing through the almost empty room, and the blanket bundle lying on the couch stirred awake.

“Mihashii! Mihaashi!! You there? Mihashi!” Tajima’s voice sounded muffled through the thick wood of the door, but it was enough to wake the ginger boy from his fitful sleep, and he sat up, blinking in the darkness, keeping the blanket over his shoulders like a cape as he moved to the door.

“T-tajima-kun?” he peered through a small crack on the door, but the other boy pushed it open.

“Mihashiiii, I thought you’d gone out!” he exclaimed as he glomped the ginger boy in a hug and made them both stumble into the apartment.

“T-tajima-kun thought I was… g-gone?” he asked, confused, and Tajima nodded as he stepped back.

“Yeah! I was totally about to go look for you in town, even if it’s raining!” the tanned boy gestured to the drops falling densely against the window from which barely any light came through to lit the dim apartment.

“W-why were you…looking… for me?” Mihashi asked as he tilted his head to the side.

“I was worried you know! This storm isn’t normal and when you took so long to open the door I got even more worried!” he explained, still gesturing grandly.

“I was…” Mihashi trailed off, looking at the couch and moving the blanket over his shoulders a little.

“Oh! You were sleeping!” Tajima blinked in confusion “Why were you sleeping though? It’s not that late, and the storm is really loud.”

“W-well, that is…um….” Mihashi fidgeted, eyes trained on the ground and blushing a light pink.

“Oh, I see. Well, the thunder was really loud so it’s okay.” He smiled a little when he saw the ginger boy relax slightly. “Say, do you want to come to my house? My whole family isn’t there though, most of my siblings are on vacations right now, so it’s just my parents, grandparents and my great grandparents.” Tajima offered and this time Mihashi blinked in rapid succession.

“I-is that… really okay?” he asked shyly and the other smiled and nodded in certainty.

“Sure thing! They won’t mind.”

“I-I don’t… a burden…” Mihashi whispered, eyes on the ground once more and shoulders dropping.

“I really don’t want to leave you alone though, like I said, this storm isn’t normal and it could be dangerous for a witch to be alone right now.” He explained, and sighed when Mihashi didn’t raise his eyes. “Look, they really won’t mind, okay? I asked my mom and everything, she said it was okay.”

This time, Mihashi did look up “Is that… really?” he asked, eyes glittering.

“Yeah! You’ll stay in my room and everything, until the storm passes at least.” Tajima grinned and Mihashi smiled slightly, color rising to his cheeks in happiness. “Now, go get everything you need.” Mihashi nodded quickly and scurried to his room, Tajima on his heels.

“Say Mihashi, do you have any spells against water? It’s raining quite hard outside, I doubt a simple umbrella would do, besides, the wind’s too strong to use one now anyway.” The tanned boy asked, leaning against the doorway of the brightly lit room, watching as Mihashi folded some clothes before putting them on a bag, sitting in a seiza position on top of his unmade bed.

“I don’t! No spells! But! Runes! They…can work!” he chirped, stuffing some other things into his bag.

“Really? I thought you’d have a spell to protect yourself from rain. Why isn’t there one?”

“Because! Rain is… natural element! So… you can’t protect!” he said as he dug through a drawer, taking out a new piece of charcoal.

“Huh, that’s weird, but it makes sense I guess. Where do ya have to draw the rune for it to work?”

“In the… forehead! So it can… protect the body!”

“Go ahead then.” Tajima said, closing his eyes, and Mihashi nodded before placing the tip of the charcoal stick to the tanned boy’s forehead, drawing a simple rune before moving back.

“It will… burn out after an hour.” He explained as Tajima opened his brown eyes, watching as Mihashi drew something on the palm of his right hand before pocketing the charcoal and looking up expectantly.

“Let’s go then!” he smiled, watching Mihashi’s neck breaking speed nod as he picked up his bag, walking behind Tajima as they exited the apartment, and then turning to turn off the lights with a snap of his fingers and locking the door, turning back to Tajima after.

“We really should hurry, I think the storm is getting even worse. We should be there soon though!” Tajima said as he led the way down the stairs, climbing down quickly, and together the two boys left the building.

* * *

 

Sakaeguchi was nervous.

Actually, he was terrified, but since he’d been left in charge of the coven he couldn’t have the luxury of showing how really scared he was, for the sake of his coven mates. Momokan had trusted him with a great responsibility, to lead the coven in her absence, and he would not fail her, not her nor his friends that were counting on him.

He’d said that to himself again and again, but as he watched Izumi’s pale face, a stark contrast against the dark cushion their head rested on, still unconscious after passing out on the living room couch. They’d carried them upstairs and into their room, letting them rest on the bed as Suyama checked on him, using his magic to heal them a little and then declaring that was all he could do, since Izumi’s mind was too weak to regain consciousness right now, and then he’d left to rest a bit, his magic finally taking a toll and Sakaeguchi had volunteered to keep a watch on Izumi, tasked to give them a restoring potion as soon as they opened their eyes.

He was alone now, sitting on a chair by Izumi’s bedside, the others doing different things around the house; Nishihiro was explaining some things to Abe and Hanai, and Oki had gone into the kitchen to cook something for lunch, Mizutani offering to help him. And yet, in the loneliness of watching his friend’s pale face he couldn’t help but think that maybe he was doing something wrong, and that maybe if Momokan had been with them, Izumi would be awake now, not trapped in between the limbo their mind had conjured up to protect themselves from further harm.

“I don’t think you have anything to feel guilty for.” A voice interrupted his reverie, and he turned back in his chair to find Mizutani leaning against the open door.

“How do you know I’m feeling guilty?” he asked and the other boy just shrugged.

“Your face was obvious, it doesn’t take a genius to see that.” The red haired boy answered and walked to a chair, dragging it to Sakaeguchi’s side.

“They’ll be okay, I think. It doesn’t look nearly as bad anymore.” He commented, inspecting Izumi’s face carefully.

“How did you know Izumi goes by ‘they’? Most people confound them when they first meet. Did one of the guys tell you?” he blinked in confusion and watched as the other’s face morphed in surprise.

“Eh? They do? I didn’t know, I just assumed. In my village we don’t give nearly the same amount of importance you guys do to gender and those kind of things. I grew up thinking that it was a personal matter of the person in question, like my parents taught me.” He explained thoughtfully.

“Is that so.”

“Yeah, it’s the same for me, though I really don’t mind.” He smiled goofily and Sakaeguchi blinked at him in surprise.

“Do you rather go by ‘them’ as well? I can tell the others, it would be no problem at all.” He said but the other just smiled.

“Nah, it’s fine. You can use whatever pronouns, he, she or they it’s fine.” He explained and the fair haired boy nodded in understanding.

“I see. I’ll keep it in mind then.” He smiled this time, and the other returned his smile.

A noise coming from the bed startled them, and they snapped their attention back to the now conscious Izumi, who was coughing and spluttering, writhing in pain.

“Izumi! Here, drink this” Sakaeguchi held the potion flask to Izumi’s mouth, and they drank a couple of gulps without complaining, relaxing a bit back into the bed, but then they snapped their eyes open, hand grabbing at Sakaeguchi’s wrist, their blue eyes wide.

“I know what it is.” They rasped out and Sakaeguchi nodded.

“It’s okay, take your time, deep breaths in.” he instructed and Izumi complied, following his example.

“We can’t have you passing out on us again, or Suyama will have our heads.” Mizutani chimed from Sakaeguchi’s side, and Izumi glared at him weakly.

“Sakaeguchi, it’s bad, we need to get ready.” Izumi said, before taking the rest of the potion and pushing themselves upward.

“What is it?” he asked, helping them sit up on the bed and putting pillows on their back.

“Dragons.” Izumi croaked out, voice still raspy from the potion and Sakaeguchi halted his movements in shock. “A whole shit ton of them.”

“How near?” Sakaeguchi asked quietly, face grim.

“Not nearly as close as I thought, but still close enough for them to sense us, if they pay enough attention.”

“How soon?”

“A few hours tops, no more than five.”

“I’ll go call everyone else.” Mizutani muttered as he stood up, face pale.

“Izumi, why?” Sakaeguchi asked when the shapeshifter was out of sight.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t see enough, something ripped me out before I could.” They sighed, leaning into the pillows. “I really thought I was gonna die this time, you know. Fuck this shit, fuck however did it.”

“What did you get to see?”

“The Middle realm.” They answered, opening their eyes just in time to see Sakaeguchi’s fear pass through his face. “Something put the dragons in there, I don’t know how since it was thousands of them, but they did and then opened a portal to this realm.”

“I’m going to send Momokan another message to warn her.”

“It won’t pass near there, so I don’t think they’ll be in any danger, but you should do it still.” Izumi muttered. “God, can you tell Mizutani to think a little more quietly? I literally can hear his fear across the house.” Sakaeguchi smiled a little at that.

“I will, don’t worry. Do you feel better now?”

“Yeah, what did Suyama said?”

“That your mind was too weak to be conscious.” He answered and Izumi frowned.

“Weird, I don’t remember the vision having anything too taxing, it wasn’t even that long, just a few seconds.” They frowned, the corners of their mouth turn downwards before their eyes widened. “Wait, something ripped me from the vision, I think that might have caused something, it did felt weird and painful.” Sakaeguchi looked at them anxiously.

“I’ll tell Momokan we need her, it can’t go on like this.” He said, just as thundering footsteps sounded in the stairs, and soon every other occupant of the house burst into the room.

“Izumi! Are you okay?” Oki asked as Suyama sat beside Izumi and placed his hand on their forehead.

“What happened?” Abe asked, Hanai and Nishihiro standing by his side, watching on nervously.

“I’m going to send a message to Momokan.” Sakaeguchi stood up, and he heard Izumi’s voice as he left the room.

“Well, buckle up everybody, we’re having a dragon invasion.”

* * *

 

“See? I told you there would be no problem! My mom loved you!” Tajima exclaimed as he flopped into his bed, Mihashi standing awkwardly in the middle of the bedroom until he decided to sit seiza position in the floor.

“Tajima-san is… very kind!” Mihashi said, looking up at the other boy with a joyful expression.

“Yeah, she’s the best. Now! What should we do to pass time? The storm seems to be getting worse and worse, I don’t think it’s gonna stop anytime soon.” Tajima sat up in his bed with a small jump, and crossed his legs as he turned to the boy on the floor. “By the way, that was a nice rune you used there, I didn’t get wet at all! Grandpa was pretty impressed.” He said as he touched his forehead, watching as Mihashi blushed in bliss. “Oh! It’s fading now, guess it’s already an hour yeah? Wait, you didn’t draw any runes on your forehead, how come you didn’t get wet either?” Tajima blinked in confusion, hand still touching the rapidly fading rune.

“That! I’ve always! Water doesn’t… touch! If I focus!” Mihashi stuttered, and Tajima looked at him in amazement.

“Really? Water doesn’t touch you? Woah, that’s so awesome Mihashi! It’s like you’re waterproof! Do you think it’s got to do with your telekinesis power?” he asked and the other boy just shrugged. “Mhm, it’s really cool though. I wish I had a power like that.”

“Tajima-kun is! Very amazing!” Mihashi exclaimed, looking at him with stars in his eyes and the tanned boy blinked.

“You think so? Hahaha! Maybe I am then!” Tajima smiled, and then got up totally from the bed. “What are we gonna do, then? We could play something! Ah, but I only got Battleship, the other games are missing pieces.” Tajima said as he ruffled through his closet. “You wanna play that?” he turned around in time to see Mihashi nodding excitedly.

“Anything is…fine!”                                                                                                                                                        

“Okay then!” Tajima brought the run down box of the old game and sat in front of Mihashi, but just as he was opening the box, the lights in the house went out with a snap.

“Huh, that’s weird, we never lose the light during storms.” Tajima muttered and stood up again. “I’m gonna go see what happened, you going to stay here?” he looked down at Mihashi, who shook his head.

“I can… help!” the ginger boy said, and taking the piece of charcoal out of his pocket, he drew a rune in his right palm, and soon a small, flickering light appeared.

“Good thinking! Let’s go then” Tajima led the way out of the room, hurrying down the corridor, Mihashi’s flame the only source of light in the dark house.

“Grandpa? Mom? Where are you?” The tanned boy called out loud, and paused in front of the sliding doors that led to the living room.

“They usually gather here after dinner, to drink tea and eat a bit more while my grandparents play shoji.” He told Mihashi, and was about to pull the door open when he heard voices from inside, frantic and scared.

“-have to go, it’s not safe!”

“Something big it’s coming, and we can’t keep on like this.”

“He’s just a child, he can’t leave us yet!”

“We cannot keep protecting him forever, it won’t do him any good. Yuuichirou is a big boy now, he can take care of himself.”

“But where will he go? It’s not safe outside right now!”

“It’s not safe in here either! Not anymore!”

“Something it’s coming, we have no idea what it is and we have no way to protect ourselves.”

“Listen to me, Miwako. Yuuichirou will be better if he leaves, we can’t protect him anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Tajima asked, sliding the door open quickly to find his parents and grandparents talking around a small candle, his great grandparent sitting silent on the side.

“T-tajima-kun! We shouldn’t…!” Mihashi squawked, clutching the back of his t-shirt and bringing the flame in his hand forward.

“It’s okay, Mihashi. They were talking about me, I want to know what it was.” Tajima placed his hand in the other boy’s arm to calm him, but his eyes remained fixed on his family, his voice uncharacteristically serious.

“Yuuichirou! You shouldn’t be listening to other people’s conversations!” his mother reprimanded, her face pale.

“But you were talking about me. I want to know what it was.”

“Even so! It’s still not your place to-”

 “Leave it, Miwako. The boy has a right to know.” His grandfather interjected, his face serious before he turned to face Tajima. “Come here, Yuuichirou, we have something to tell you.”

“You can tell me from here, I won’t leave Mihashi alone.” The freckled boy said seriously.

“He can come in too, dear, if that’s what you want.” His grandmother spoke this time, and Tajima nodded curtly before walking forward to sit beside his grandfather, Mihashi trailing him closely and sitting quietly on his other side.

“Now? What was it?” the boy pressured and his mother sighed before starting to speak.

“You see, there have been some signs recently, signs that say something’s approaching, the animals say so and the plants are restless.”

“This storm isn’t normal, and you know that, that’s why you went to find your friend and brought him here, am I wrong?” his great grandfather spoke for the first time, and Tajima nodded slowly.

“What does it have to do with me though? I don’t see your point.”

“The thing is, Yuuichirou, that this something that’s going to happen isn’t going to be good, it’s going to be dangerous and we have no way of knowing what it’ll be or how to protect you.” His mother sighed sadly.

“Wait, protect me? Why only me?” Tajima furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Because of your power. You are too powerful, my child, and whatever it is it’s going to come it’s going to have you on its side.” His grandmother said, looking at him worriedly.

“We were thinking.” His grandfather spoke, his mother sending him a pointed look before he continued. “We were thinking it would be best for you if you find a coven to join.”

“A coven? But-”

“We’ve kept you with us for far too long, my child. Your friend can tell you, most of the young witches have gone to schools where they learn to control their powers, and then they graduate and enter a coven. But we have kept you in here, in fear that something might happen to you.” His grandmother said wistfully, placing her hand on his mother’s back to comfort her.

“But that doesn’t matter anymore. In light of the current events, it would be best for you to find a coven now, they would be able to protect you better than us.” His grandfather sentenced grimly and Tajima swallowed.

“You’re kicking me out?” he asked quietly, his eyes on the small table they were sitting around, watching the dance of the candle light on the worn down wood.

“Of course not. You’re free to do as you please, but we believe it would be best for you to leave us before today ends, there’s a darkness looming every time closer, and it won’t be much longer until it reaches us.” His great grandfather looked at him in the eye as he spoke, and Tajima sighed.

“Where should I go?”

“There’s a coven not too far from here, the Nishiura coven, they’re not too big although it used to be the most powerful coven in the zone a long time ago, but I believe they would accept you if you went there.” His grandfather said and the brown haired boy nodded.

“I get it. Should we leave tonight?” he asked, eyes casted down.

“Yes, as soon as possible, before it gets even worse.” He nodded slightly and stood up, leaving the room without another word, even though he could hear Mihashi’s soft footsteps behind his, and his mother crying in the living room.

He went back to his darkened bedroom, and waited by the door for Mihashi to catch up and enter as well before he closed the door, leaning heavily on it.

“T-tajima-kun? Are you… okay?” Mihashi asked hesitantly, still holding the small flame in his right hand.

“I don’t know.” The other boy asked, rubbing his face. “I guess I should have seen it coming. Sorry, Mihashi. I can take you back to your apartment if you want.”

“N-no, it’s a-alright. I won’t leave Tajima-kun… alone.” The ginger haired boy shook his head, his voice determined and Tajima smiled.

“You really are cool Mihashi, and a great friend.” He said before sighing and moving to his closet to fetch a duffle bag and start packing.

“Does Tajima-kun… know where we’re g-going?” Mihashi stammered, sitting on the other boy’s bed, holding out his hand to give him more light.

“Honestly? I have no idea. I guess we’ll have to track it down somehow, but it’s still raining quite hard outside, do you think you could draw the rune on me again?” Tajima asked while stuffing his clothes in the bag, not minding if they got crumbled.

“I can. A-and! We can go…to the a-apartment if… we don’t f-find the coven.” Mihashi said, and the other boy hummed.

“I guess that’s a plan then. Wait, what’s that there in the corner? I don’t remember having a ball of clothes there.” Tajima frowned, and was about to touch the small bump when a furry head appeared, hair muffled and eyes bright.

“Emi! What are you doing here? How did you come in?” he asked in shock, but the fox only wiggled her way out of the clothes and sat down, looking at him intently.

_“I heard everything. I’m coming with you.”_ The small animal said seriously, ignoring his previous questions.

“Wait, what? No, Emi, you can’t leave your family.” Tajima said quickly, but the fox only shook her head.

_“It doesn’t matter. You are my family as well, I won’t leave you to get lost in the woods.”_

“But Emi, it’s not safe for you outside, and-”

_“It’s not safe for you either and they still told you to leave!”_ the fox screamed in his head, standing up from her previous position, her fur standing on end before she sighed and sat back down. _“I’m going Yuu, you can’t do anything to stop me. Besides, I know the way, it’ll be faster if I guide you.”_ He looked at her eyes and sighed when he saw nothing but determination in her dark eyes, her mind set on the idea.

“I don’t like it.” He grumbled, going back to throwing his things into the bag.

_“You don’t have to. I’m still going.”_ The small animal stood up and went to curl up on Mihashi’s lap, the other boy looking from her to Tajima in confusion, but still patting her head.

“Emi’s coming with us. She’s too stubborn for her own good.” He informed Mihashi, and the other boy’s eyes widened in realization.

“Emi c-can’t! it’s…dangerous o-outside!” he stuttered, this time looking at the happy animal in his lap, who only patted his leg slightly and put her head under his hand.

“She says she’ll be fine, you don’t need to worry about her.” Tajima translated, sighing as he zipped the bag. “Well, I’m done packing. We should go before the rain picks back up.” Mihashi nodded and stood up, careful not to extinguish the flame still flickering on his palm, and got the charcoal from his pocket, drawing the rune on Tajima’s forehead with his left hand before going to pick up his bag from the other side of the room and saving the charcoal again. Tajima picked his bag and was about to pick up Emi as well when the small fox scurried to Mihashi, pawing at his jacket.

“She’s asking if you could carry her.” Tajima translated and Mihashi blinked before nodding at neck breaking speed, finally closing his right hand to kill the flame before using both hands to pick up the fox and set her inside his jacket, zipping it back up and picking his bag again.

“Well, here we go.” Tajima said, looking at the ginger boy and spotting Emi’s head appearing from the top of his jacket zipper, before he turned and led the way out of the room and to the front door, going out into the rain with his two companions, in search for his new coven.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so fucking sorry Tajima, i didn't meant to ●︿●  
> A penny for your thoughts on this chapter? the big threat is finally revealed! what'd you think it's gonna happen now?  
> I'll try not to be late with the next chapter, but if you can please come kick my ass into gear in tumblr or twitter, that way i'll definitely be on time  
> see you next time!!~


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry oh my fucking god fucking slay me, i didn't mean for it to be this long of a wait but oh well, some stuff happened and then i went on vacation and yeah, i'm sorry  
> I think i'm gonna have to slow updates from now on, since as if you might already know if you follow me on twitter, i'm starting classes tomorrow, and as soon as i finish these classes, school starts back again so i might not have time to keep writing. I'm not yet sure on a fixed schedule for updates but i'll let you know when i figure it out  
> thank you so very much for your comments, they really do make my day and give me the push i need to keep writing, and thank you as well if you're still reading even after this long of a wait, i promise i'll do my best from now on as well (∪ ◡ ∪)

Sakaeguchi sat on a chair on a corner of his room, facing the wall as he stared into a stone basin, his hands pressed at the sides as he projected light into the translucent liquid inside.

“Momokan, Momokan...” He muttered absentmindedly, wondering if he should put more magic into the shields when he was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden voice.

“Sakaeguchi? What happened?” the coven leader’s voice came from the stone bowl, the washed out colors of her face glittering in the magical water.

“Momokan! Thank god you answered, there’s something really wrong.” He rushed to explain, but paused so that she could inspect his face in silence before continuing.

“Go ahead, what happened?” she asked finally, and the fair haired boy finally released the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Izumi had a vision. Or more like, they’ve had several visions since you left.”

“Oh? Quite a busy two days you have had, huh? What was the first vision they had?”

“Yes, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but this storm is downright weird. Nishihiro would have warned us if there was something so big coming, he would’ve seen it, but he didn't have a clue as of what could be causing it. There’s something behind it, something dangerous and it’s growing.” He said hurriedly, his words slurring a little but the woman hummed in understanding.

“Yeah, I figured there was something weird about it, but I had no way of knowing what it was, they don’t really like our coven very much in here, they don’t tell me anything, since they don’t trust us.” the older witch pursed her lips, disgruntled.

“Momokan, there’s something really bad coming, it’s going to happen soon. Izumi had another vision a while ago, and they saw what it was.” Sakaeguchi said, his hands pressing harder against the cool stone, knuckles white.

“What is it?” this time, there was urgency in her words, a worried glint to her eyes.

“Dragons.” The boy wheezed out, watching as his leader’s face contorted in shock and horror. “Izumi saw them, they’re going to pass near us.”

“What else did Izumi saw? Who unleashed them?” she demanded, her voice serious.

“They don’t know.” The short boy shook his head and sighed. “They only saw the dragons in the Middle realm, and a portal open to this realm where the dragons are supposed to cross.”

“The Middle realm?! Is Izumi okay?! That could have killed them!” the woman exclaimed, hands flying forward as if to grab his shoulders before she remembered she was miles away, talking to him through a magic portal.

“Yeah, they’re fine now, still shaken, tired and in bed, but they’re fine. Something ripped them from the vision and they passed out for a few hours, but Suyama checked them and I gave them Oki’s restoring potion, and they’re conscious now, or at least they were when I left their room. They lost so much blood Momokan, I thought they were going to die.” Sakaeguchi squeezed his eyes shut, missing the softening in the woman’s eyes, but hearing it in her voice when she next spoke.

“Sakaeguchi, listen to me. It’s okay, you’re doing a great job, you couldn’t have helped Izumi’s vision, and you all did great in helping them. Now tell me the details of this mess.”

“Yes.” Sakaeguchi sniffled, blinking the sudden dampness from his eyes before focusing back into the flickering image of the worried Momoe. “They’re passing near us, close enough to notice us if they pay attention. They were in the Middle realm, we don’t know how many, but quoting Izumi ‘a whole shit ton of them’ so maybe a few thousands. We don’t know who put them there either, just that they suddenly appeared there with a portal open to this realm.” The boy summarized ant the brown haired woman nodded.

“I see. That’s very little information, but better than nothing. I guess it’s better this way, if Izumi had remained a few more seconds into the Middle realm, they might have died.”

Sakaeguchi nodded and cleared his throat before asking. “Momokan, I was wondering if maybe… maybe it would be best if you came back now? Before the dragons arrive, see if we can do something to avoid being noticed.”

“Oh Sakaeguchi.” The woman sighed and shook her head slightly. “I would go back right now, but I’m afraid that if you were to make a portal for me to come through, it would leave too many clear traces of magic, and the dragons could find us too easily. I’ll go back tomorrow, there’s no need to stay here any longer, if they refuse to listen to our warnings then there’s nothing we can do.”

“I understand. What should we do, then?”

“In the meantime, try to strengthen the wards to their full capacity, but making them as invisible as you can. I wish we had something to make that easier, but I don’t know any spells to do it. You’ll have to investigate, and do your best to make it work.”

“Okay, I’ll go into the library right away then. We will wait for you tomorrow Momokan, be careful.”

“I will. You guys remember, you are strong and can stop anything you want, if you put your mind to it and do your best. Please be safe.” She said before disappearing into the bottom of the stone bowl, the water going back to its usual crystalline state, glimmering faintly until Sakaeguchi removed his hands from the sides, when it calmed down to form a perfect surface. The boy sighed and sat back, looking at the ceiling before rubbing his hands through his face and standing up to leave his room, intent on going to check up on Izumi before going down into the library to try and find something that might help before it became too late.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you’re making me stay in bed.” Izumi complained once more, sitting on their bed, arms crossed and a prominent scowl on their face.

“We’ve told you a thousand times, we need you to be rested. It would be of no use to us if you passed out while the dragons where here.” Nishihiro sighed, not taking his eyes from the page of the book he was reading, his glasses sliding dangerously down his nose.

“It’s still hours away, at least four, I can rest later.”

“You actually should rest all of those four hours.” Mizutani piped in, flinching away when Izumi glared at him.

“No, I should not. I should be helping Sakaeguchi get ready for the invasion. This is bullshit, I can help too, I’m not _dying._ ”

“Suyama said you nearly were, so no going out of bed for you.” Nishihiro flipped a page, scratching his neck absentmindedly while Izumi huffed.

“But I’m not anymore! And I didn’t die, so that’s for something. I really should be helping Sakaeguchi-“

“I rather you stay here resting though, I can make do on my own.” Sakaeguchi interjected, smiling as he crossed the open door of Izumi’s bedroom.

“Ah, Sakaeguchi. Are you sure we can’t tie them to the bed? I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Nishihiro blinked innocently at the shorter boy, and he smiled while Izumi released an indignant cry and Mizutani snickered.

“I’m afraid not, we just have to keep him there without any restrains.” Sakaeguchi sat by the foot of their bed. “I just talked to Momokan, she told me to strengthen the shields, and to look for something else.”

“Is she coming back?” they asked, while Nishihiro closed his book and neared the bed.

“No, she said she can’t right now.” Sakaeguchi shook his head and the others looked at him in confusion.

“But why? It’s not like she likes to stay where she is, I don’t think the bijou coven are being nice to her.” Nishihiro commented, and Mizutani raised his eyebrows.

“The bijou coven? What’s your leader doing there?”

“Diplomatic reasons, stuff only she knows.” Izumi supplied, and the red haired boy nodded in mild understanding.

“It’s not that, she says she doesn’t risk coming here right now, since a portal would leave too many magic traces, and the dragons could track us by that. She’s coming back tomorrow though, as soon as she can.”

“Did you talk to her about this guy?” Izumi asked, pointing an accusing finger at Mizutani.

“I didn’t have the chance. And I wouldn’t dare either, it would do neither him nor us no good if the bijou coven found out we’re having a guest, you know how they are about the rules of coven housing.”

“Yeah, you’re right, it was a good call.” Nishihiro assented, smiling gently at the shorter boy, who smiled back.

“Well, I have to get going. I actually asked Abe if he could help me find something we could use against the dragons in the library, I was about to go get him when I came here.”

“Want my help too? I bet we could find something faster with three people.” Nishihiro asked, Sakaeguchi nodding in thought.

“Yeah, that’d be nice. But Izumi, are you okay like to stay alone? Oki’s busy with a few potions and Suyama is checking in on the dryads.” Sakaeguchi asked worriedly, turning his gaze on Izumi, who brightened slightly.

"I can go and help-"

“I can stay with them, I don’t mind. It’s not like I can do anything helpful otherwise.” Mizutani chimed in offering, interrupting the psychic and smiling when the other frowned and pouted.

“And I am not dying! I don’t need a babysitter, I can help with everything too.” They scoffed, crossing their arms back.

“No. You just get some rest. I’ll go get Abe, we’ll meet you at the library, Nishihiro.” Sakaeguchi said, the other boy nodding at him before he smiled and left the room.

“Well, that’s that I guess.” Mizutani said, stretching in the chair.

“I really can go, I don’t feel bad anymore.” Izumi insisted, but Nishihiro just shook his head.

“No can’t do. You heard Sakaeguchi and Suyama, you’re staying here.” The brown haired boy said, gathering the reference books he’d brought from his room along with the book he’d been reading, piling them into the chair he’d been occupying.

“Is there something else I can do?” Mizutani asked, sitting straight in the chair.

“It’s okay, just try to keep this block head in bed, and don’t let them persuade you into letting them out. Izumi you too, don’t pester him too much and get some rest, okay?” he asked, finally taking off his glasses and pocketing them, expecting an answer from Izumi, but it never came. Instead, he turned around to find them still sitting against the bed frame, but their eyes were rolled back into their head and their breathing was labored.

“Izumi!” Nishihiro screamed, scrambling towards the bed to grab his friend, Mizutani startling at his scream and following close behind. Nishihiro grabbed their shoulders, feeling the tremors that coursed through their body, and was just about to tell Mizutani to go get Suyama when Izumi opened their eyes, pupils blown wide enough to obscure their blue eyes.

“Someone’s coming.”

* * *

 

Abe was seated on his bed, riffling through the darkened pages of the very ancient book Nishihiro had lent him when he asked about the magical world and all of its characteristics, scanning the fine print and hearing the loud rain hitting against the window, the wind shaking the trees, and not even a few knocks on his door breaking his concentration, until he finished the page and finally looked up at the noise against the wood.

“Come in.” he said, putting his finger in between the pages of the book and putting it against his legs.

“Hey Abe, sorry to bother you but I was wondering if maybe you could help me a bit? I need to find something in the library and it would be much easier if you could.” Sakaeguchi poked his head through a small crack on the door, smiling at Abe.

“Oh yeah sure, let me just put this…” Abe grabbed the bookmarker he’d previously placed on the nightstand, set it between the pages and stood up, making his way to the door.

“What do you need to find?” he asked as he followed Sakaeguchi down the stairs to the first floor.

“Uh, that’s actually the problem, I don’t really know.” He laughed, and Abe looked at him in surprise. “Something to prepare against the dragon invasion, and something to strengthen the shields, but I don’t really know what.”

“Mhhm, do you have any idea where we should look?”

“In the conjures section of the library there must be something, and maybe some references in a few dragon books I remember have seen in the magic zoology part of it.” They reached the end of the stairs, and where about to go into a corridor Abe had never entered when there were hurried footsteps in the stairs, and a panting Mizutani appeared behind them.

“Sakaeguchi! Oh thank god.” He wheezed out, coming to a stop in front of the two confused boys, bending down to regain his breathing.

“Mizutani? Are you okay?” Sakaeguchi asked worriedly, placing his hand on the other’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Abe asked at the same time, eyeing the tired boy warily.

“It’s Izumi, they had another vision!” the red haired boy exclaimed as soon as he could, and Abe saw Sakaeguchi turn very pale, his eyes widening. “They’re okay though! Already woke up and no blood, but I think it’s something important.” He added quickly and Sakaeguchi nodded, some of his previous colour returning to his face.

“Mizutani, please go find Oki, he should be in the kitchen following this same corridor, tell him what you just told me, he will know what to do.” The short boy instructed, and the shapeshifter nodded before hurrying into the hallway while the other two went back up the stairs.

“I’m so glad I told them to stay in bed.” Sakaeguchi breathed out as he climbed quickly, Abe following his lead closely as he nearly sprinted into Izumi’s bedroom.

“What happened?” he asked as he entered the room, now walking to the bed at a slower pace when he saw that Izumi was, in fact, not unconscious or bleeding.

“Sorry, I just had a small vision.” Izumi said, accepting the glass of water Nishihiro handed them.

“You almost gave him a heart attack.” Abe said, plopping down into a chair and motioning to Sakaeguchi.

“Hey Abe, it’s nice to see you too. Why, no, don’t worry, I did not have a near death experience, don’t worry about me.” Izumi mocked, taking the glass to their lips.

“Don’t worry, they’re fine if they can be a snarky little shit.” Abe told Sakaeguchi, and the short boy smiled shakily.

“Mind you, I can be a snarky little shit in every situation, don’t underestimate me.” They chimed, smirking until Nishihiro cleared his throat.

“Izumi, it was important…”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Someone’s coming.” They told Sakaeguchi, who blinked in confusion.

“Someone’s coming? What do you mean someone is coming? Someone other than the dragons?”

“I think so, yeah. I’m about eighty seven percent sure they’re human, at least mostly. Don’t know why though, damn this thing.” They scowled in frustration.

“What thing?” Nishihiro asked, taking a chair closer to the bed.

“It’s because of the invasion. There’s something weird in the air magic, I can’t really get much details from visions. Probably because of the portal, it must be draining energy like crazy.”

“Draining energy?” Abe asked in confusion.

“Yeah, a portal that size needs a lot of energy. Usually smaller portals use the energy from the one casting it to function, but this one must be huge to allow dragons to pass through.” Nishihiro explained. “A bigger portal normally draws energy from the earth, or any other of the natural sources near it, like Sakaeguchi’s light portal, but this one...” He sighed and shook his head. “We don’t know who created it, and it’s so big it needs all the energy it can get, so it must be drawing it from whatever it can find, mostly magical beings. Us witches are magical beings too, and especially Izumi since they’re a psychic, the portal is interfering with their visions, and that must be why they feel so sick too.”

“That must be it. Don’t you feel weighed down, Abe? You have the sight, so technically you also qualify as ‘magical’” Sakaeguchi said, turning to look at Abe.

“I don’t know, I’ve felt weird for weeks now, maybe that’s it?” he frowned, trying to remember.

“Weeks? But-“

“I’m here! What happened?” Suyama burst into the room, Mizutani, Oki and Hanai behind him.

“Izumi had another vision.” Sakaeguchi stated as the taller witch moved to the still pale psychic.

“I feel fine though, it was really short and more of a feeling that an actual vision.” They complained, but no one paid them any attention.

“You don’t seem to be worse than before.” Suyama concluded after placing his hands on the other’s forehead.

“What was it, then?” Oki asked, standing behind Sakaeguchi.

“Izumi says someone’s coming.” Sakaeguchi informed and the others stiffened.

“Someone? Other than the dragons?” Hanai asked, his face taut.

“Yeah, they’re probably human though, and I doubt they mean to hurt us, but it’s better if we prepare for that too, just so that they won’t creep on us unannounced.” Izumi interjected.

“How much time until they arrive?” Suyama asked this time, and Izumi frowned.

“Not much, bordering on an hour, perhaps less.”

“We all should go back to what we were doing then, it’s of no use if we stay static waiting for them to arrive.” Sakaeguchi said, and everyone nodded. “Izumi, you stay right where you are. Mizutani, can you keep watching them? Just in case.” He added, and Mizutani saluted while Izumi complained.

“But whatever is arriving will-“

“Don’t worry, well get you to come down as soon as the shields detect them.” Sakaeguchi said before they could continue, and Izumi nodded reluctantly.

“That’s settled then. Call us if you need anything.” Sakaeguchi stood up and filed out of the room, the others following after him down the stairs, leaving only Izumi and Mizutani.

“What do you think it is what’s coming?” Abe asked Sakaeguchi once they were going another set of stairs, Nishihiro with them.

“I don’t know, but hopefully they won’t be hostile.” Sakaeguchi sighed, coughing a bit when dust entered his lungs, and they kept going lower and lower into the earth, continuing even after passing several branched out halls, descending into the darkness of the last floors of the Nishiura coven until they reached the floor dedicated to the library.

“This is the library? No wonder you wanted help.” Abe whistled as he looked at the rows upon rows of books, reaching from floor to ceiling.

“Yeah, haha, it’s been formed by a lot of generations of witches in the coven.” Sakaeguchi said as they followed Nishihiro, who led the way to the east part of the library.

“I can look up the dragons, you two go ahead and search for the spells.” Nishihiro said as he pointed to another corridor, and the two boys nodded and split up.

“What are we supposed to look for?” asked Abe when they stopped in front of a particular shelf with a dark, sturdy wooden table with benches in front of it.

“How to enhance spells or how to make shields stronger.” Sakaeguchi replied as he scanned the lower shelves. “If I’m not mistaken, that section should be somewhere around here…there! Found it.” He smiled and picked up some books, setting them on the table and gesturing to Abe to sit down.

“I’ll search for the spell enhancer and you can search for the shield thing?” the short boy asked, and Abe nodded before accepting the two not so thick books the other handed him, and they both started to search through the tomes.

The library was quiet, the only sound being that of the pages being turned and the occasional sneeze by Sakaeguchi. They worked in silence scanning the old, yellowish pages of the books. The first book gave Abe no clues on what he was searching for, and so he closed it and started to pick up the other book when he noticed a paper that had fallen from the previous one. Curiously, he picked it up and read it, his eyes flying through the scribbled words before he turned to the other boy.

“Hey, Sakaeguchi.” He said, and the other raised his head from where he’d been immersed on his third book out of five.

“Yeah? What is it?” Abe waved the paper in response.

“This fell out of the book. I think someone left it there as a tip in case someone else needed it, it looks pretty old.” He handed the paper over, and the boy unfolded it, reading it quickly.

“I… I don’t know if this is a good idea.” He said quietly, and Abe raised his eyebrows.

“Why not? We’re out of time, right? And here it says it can be done pretty quickly, that is really powerful, and almost impossible to detect.”

“Yeah, but toying with this kind of magic is not easy, we’d need a lot of power, and it’s dangerous if it didn’t work.”

“Mhm, I think it might be worth a shot though, we shouldn’t discard the idea yet.”

“Yeah maybe. I’ve found a few things that could be useful too, but let’s keep looking just in case, yeah?” the witch said, turning back to the page he was reading, the other boy following his example.

“Hey guys, I found a few things.” Nishihiro came to their table shortly after, hauling four big books in his arms. “It says here that some dragons don’t like sun light for some reason, and that ice is a definite no. Also, there are a few spells I found to make them fall asleep or just plain make them leave somewhere, they are supposedly remounting from the dragon slayers era, when there were still dragons in this realm, but I’ve yet to find something on how to kill a dragon, they are incredibly tough creatures. How about you? Need a hand?” the dark haired boy summarized, looking at the books on the others hands.

“I’ve found a few things too, like some particular stones and gems that make casting spells easier or herbs that make said spells stronger, but I don’t know, it doesn’t really seem like much, does it?” Sakaeguchi sighed, scratching his head as he poked at the page he was reading with his finger.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything else in this book either, it’s just things like ‘how to make a portal’ or ‘rules on safe portal traveling’ and that stuff, nothing about making one stronger.” Abe frowned, closing the book as if it had personally offended him.

“Abe did found something though.” Sakaeguchi said, handing the paper to Nishihiro, who scanned it quickly and his eyes widened.

“This is… really dangerous.” He muttered, still looking at the paper.

“Think we can pull it off?” Abe asked, and the other boy glanced at him briefly.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m not sure.” He sighed and finally set the paper down.

“Momokan would be able to pull it off. Or she would have found another way to do it.” Sakaeguchi said grimly, but Nishihiro shook his head.

“No, I don’t think she would do something different, if she’d had any idea on how to do this, she would have told you instead of sending you off to search.”

“It’s too dangerous though, I don’t know if it would be a good idea-“

“We don’t have anything else, perhaps it’s worth a shot?” Abe said, looking at Nishihiro questioningly.

“Maybe. We’ll need to do it together if we do it at all, I don’t think any of us has enough strength to do this, it’s too much raw magic it needs.”

“I could do it” Sakaeguchi muttered, pressing his forehead against his folded hands.

“Yeah, I’m sure you could, and so could Izumi, but we can’t afford to make you lose all of your strength, we need you.” Nishihiro said, looking directly at Sakaeguchi.

“Can we help? Hanai and I?” Abe asked, trying to ease the sudden tension in the air.

“Perhaps. I think we could adapt a few things from this spell to suit us better.” Nishihiro muttered. “We should ask the others, they might have a few ideas.” 

Sakaeguchi nodded, standing up. “Yeah, let’s go upstairs. The shield’s been breached, I think that whoever was coming just arrived.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kyahahaha i'd say i'm sorry for that cliffhanger but i'm actually not so ≧◡≦  
> what'd you think? I'm a terrible person, making my poor baby izumi suffer this much  
> hmu at tumblr and/or twitter if you want, i love talking about oofuri and some other things too!!  
> See you next time!~


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeyyy i'm back  
> woaah chapter 10 already, i cant believe how much has passed. we still have a lot ahead though, so don't worry  
> i think i'm gonna start posting every two weeks/two weeks and a half, but it shouldn't take longer than that  
> no new triggers for this chapter, so enjoy!!

“Emi, this is the fourth time we’ve been pass this way, are you sure you know where you’re going?!” Tajima whined, clutching the bag hanging from his shoulder, glaring weakly at the smug, warm fox inside Mihashi’s jacket.

_“Of course I know where I’m going, Yuu. Are you implying that I got lost on purpose?”_ Emi replied, turning her nose up.

°We! Should find… somewhere safe… soon!” Mihashi said, looking around trying to find somewhere free from the pouring rain.

“You heard Mihashi, Emi. Stop making us go in circles.” The tanned boy said, and he felt more than he saw the scowl on the animal’s face.

_“You try leading us to an almost imperceptible place in the middle of the rain!”_ the fox scoffed. _“Turn left here, we shouldn’t be too far now.”_  

“Mihashi, Emi says left.” Tajima pointed out, and the boys stumbled across the forest through a particularly close couple of trees, splashing in the water puddles.

“Are we… near? The rune… will vanish…” Mihashi said, and Tajima frowned.

“Emi, seriously, are we still lost? I don’t want to get wet.”

_“Almost there! Geez, Yuu, don’t be such a baby, a little water never hurt nobody.”_

“You say that cause you’re not the one how’s gonna get all soggy!” the dark eyed boy whined, and he looked just in time to see the fox rolling her eyes.

_“There! You felt that? We passed the ward, we’re here already, you big whiny creature.”_ The fox said, and snuggled even deeper into Mihashi’s jacket, trying to get warm.

“Emi says we’re here Mihashi.” Tajima translated, and the other boy visibly brightened up. “Emi, do we just go in a straight line now?” he asked, a small _“yes”_ coming from the hidden fox and he nodded. “Let’s just keep walking, we’ll be there in no time.” The boys squared their shoulders when the rain started falling harder, the air cold even though the water droplets avoided their bodies. They walked a few more meters, passing along trees that were shaken by the strong gusts of wind, and Tajima could distantly hear the angry buzzing of their dryads, angry with the storm.

Soon later, they came across a small stream of pure water, jumping across it to keep walking –Mihashi almost slipping, to Emi’s fright, but was saved from the freezing water by the other boy’s hold on his arm- and a few meters later they exited the cluster of trees for the first time in what felt like forever –it had barely been an hour- and entered what seemed to be a garden, with a big, old looking house in the far end.

“I guess Emi did know where we were going.” Tajima mused, grinning when he heard a small annoyed sound coming from Mihashi’s jacket.

“That’s! that’s! it’s!...” Mihashi pointed at a clump of plants excitedly, and Tajima raised his eyebrows when he followed the other boy to the herbs.

“Huh, an herbal garden. Guess we are in the right place.”

“It’s! Moon lace! Really…powerful!” Mihashi crouched to look down at a smaller plant with adoration in his eyes.

“Really? It doesn’t look like much, what is it for?” Tajima asked, eyeing the plant that was growing to a side of the other more carefully kept plants, almost as if it were a weed.

“Protection! And… spells! Makes them… stronger!” Mihashi explained, reaching out to touch the smallish plant before shaking his head and standing up. “We should… keep…”

“Yeah, let’s go, you can ask later about it.” Tajima smiled, and the other nodded his head quickly.

They kept walking towards the house, Mihashi occasionally stopping to look at different plants, Tajima staying by his side as the other boy gushed about the plants, even though all of them looked as if they weren’t growing there on purpose. After a handful of stops across the garden, they made it to the house, and Tajima knocked on the door as Mihashi subtly placed himself behind the other boy, his shoulders meeting his ears and his eyes glancing at everything. A few seconds later, the door swung open and a short, light brown haired boy appeared in the doorway.

“Hey! I’m Tajima Yuuichirou and this is Mihashi Ren, is this the Nishiura coven?” Tajima asked brightly and the boy blinked in confusion.

“Er, yes?” he answered hesitantly, but Tajima just grinned.

“Perfect! We’d like to join!”

* * *

 

Mihashi was nervous.

Never mind that that was his default state since a long time ago, this time he was really, really nervous, and the reason was the circle of people surrounding him and Tajima, all of them looking at them with varying degrees of curiosity.

“So, let me just confirm this. You’re here because you want to join the coven.” A dark haired, tanned boy with a small frown asked, and Mihashi shuffled a little closer and behind Tajima while the latter answered with a bright “Yup!”

“The two of you are witches?” asked another boy, taller than the other, with shorter hair and a kind expression.

“That’s right!”

“Well, I did say they were mostly human.” Interjected another one, with blue eyes and freckled face.

“Why do you want to join though?” the same boy who’d opened the door asked, and this time Tajima paused a little before answering.

“Well, we heard something really bad was coming, and we decided it would be better if we were in a coven when it hit, so that we could help and that stuff.” Mihashi glanced briefly at the other boy, understanding the reasons he had to hide the fact that until a few hours ago, they had no interest in joining a coven.

“Well, if they can help us with all of this…” another boy muttered, looking at the first boy questioningly.

“I don’t think Momokan would have something to say against this, so if we all agree?” the boy asked, looking at the others who nodded, and he smiled before continuing. “Then welcome to the Nishiura coven! I’m Sakaeguchi Yuuto, and I’m the leader in the mean time until our official leader comes back tomorrow.” The boy –Sakaeguchi- smiled welcomingly, and Tajima answered with a loud whoop as he set his bag down on the floor and turned to face Mihashi.

“See that, Mihashi? I told you they would accept us!” he exclaimed excitedly, and Mihashi only nodded quickly, clutching the strap of his bag.

“What’s with him? He doesn’t talk or something?” the frowning boy asked, and Tajima put his arm around Mihashi’s shoulders protectively when the ginger boy started to shiver.

“Nah, he’s just not used to being around many people, he’ll come around soon enough.” Tajima said, maneuvering them so that he was in the middle of Mihashi and the others. Mihashi started to relax as soon as he was away from the others line of sight, and he felt even better when Emi popped her head out of his jacket and looked at him in concern.

“Woah, you have a familiar?” a tall boy with dark hair asked.

“Nah, that’s Emi, she’s been my friend ever since I was born.” Tajima interjected before they could demand an answer out of Mihashi, and they all watched as the small fox climbed out of the ginger’s jacked and curled around his neck, making Tajima’s arm fall.

“Oi Emi, you’re so rude.” The boy mumbled, but the fox didn’t pay attention as she was too busy alternating between comforting Mihashi and looking at the others curiously.

“She seems to like him a lot though.” Sakaeguchi commented smiling.

“Yeah, she’s a traitor.” Tajima grinned as the fox looked at him pointedly and then turned her head away from him, nuzzling into Mihashi’s hair.

“Anyway, why don’t all of you sit down? You’re making me antsy standing up like that.” The blue eyed one said, and quickly plopped down into a nearby couch, the others gathering in mismatched chairs around it. “I’m Izumi by the way.” 

“Izumi, put your feet down. I’m Nishihiro Shintarou, this one here is Izumi Kousuke, and it’s nice to meet you” the tall boy with dark hair said as he sat beside Izumi.

“I’m Mizutani Fumiki! I just got here today too!” said another boy who’d been quiet until then.

“I’m Suyama Shouji, I’m the healer of the coven.” The boy with a kind face smiled at them.

“I’m Oki Kazutoshi, it’s nice to finally have new members.” Said another boy, smiling broadly.

“These are Abe Takaya and Hanai Azusa, they’re friends of Izumi and me.” Supplied Sakaeguchi, pointing at the two boys who were left.

“Wait, you’re not witches! And your thoughts’re really loud!” Tajima exclaimed when he looked at them, stunning everyone into silence.

“How do you know we’re not witches?” the boy with the frown asked warily, and Mihashi shrunk in fear at the edge of his voice but Tajima answered as if it were nothing.

“I can’t sense much magic from you. And you just confirmed it with that thought just now.” He grinned at the widening eyes of the others.

“Wait, you can read minds?” Nishihiro asked, excitedly leaning forward.

“Yeah, I can! I was not paying much attention to that but now that I am I can really sense that Abe and Hanai are not witches.”

“Oi, get out of our heads.” The boy that hadn’t talked until then said, and Tajima blinked innocently.

“It’s not my fault your mental walls are nonexistent! I’m just listening to all you’re broadcasting.” He defended himself and Izumi snorted.

“He’s right, you two really have no mental walls.”

“You can read minds too?” Tajima asked excitedly and the other nodded.

“I’m a psychic, I can do that and a lot of other stuff.”

“Did you teach the others mental walls? Because I can’t sense anything from anyone except from Abe, Hanai and Mizutani.”

“Yeah, I thought it could come in handy. I can’t sense anything at all from Mihashi though, do you know how to make mental walls?” Izumi asked the ginger boy, who shook his head quickly.

“I…not…don’t know…just…” he mumbled, fidgeting and glancing everywhere.

“He says he doesn’t know how to make them, he’s never learned. I can’t sense a thing from Mihashi either, that’s why I first talked to him.” Tajima explained Izumi, who just nodded.

“That’s really odd, I wonder why he can block us out without any proper training.”

“We can discuss that later, right now there are more pressing things we should talk about I think.” Abe interjected, leaning back in his chair.

“Abe’s right, we need to prepare for the invasion.” Mizutani chimed.

“Wait, what invasion? What’s going on?”  Tajima asked, looking at everyone in confusion.

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know.” Oki muttered, and looked at Sakaeguchi, who sighed.

“Izumi had a vision about what’s coming in a few hours, it’s supposed to be a dragon hoard.”

“Dr-dra-dragons?!” Mihashi stuttered, looking panicked.

“That’s so cool! Are we going to fight them?” Tajima asked, looking as if they had given him a present.

“No way, we can’t fight them, there’s too many of them.” Hanai quickly dismissed his idea.

“Yeah, and they’re admittedly too big to fight.” Sakaeguchi added.

“What’s with that, you guys are no fun.” Tajima deflated in his chair, looking disappointed.

“Yes, well, mostly we just want to avoid them, not fight them, and for that we need to set up a stronger and harder to notice shield.” Nishihiro said, getting up and retrieving a couple of books he handed to Sakaeguchi.

“For now, we really need to focus on making the shields stronger, that’s the first thing on our list since we need a few hours for the spell to settle, we can figure out the rest while that’s done.” Sakaeguchi said, going through the book in his lap. “Izumi, how long until the hoard makes it to this realm?” he asked, not raising his eyes.

“About three, maybe four hours tops. Shouldn’t take longer than that though.” Izumi said and Sakaeguchi hummed.

“That should give us enough time. Now, we went down to the library to search of a few spells and Abe found this.” The boy retrieved a folded old paper from between the book pages and held it up for them to see.

“What’s that?” asked Oki, leaning to grab the paper the other boy passed him.

 “It’s supposed to be a way to make the wards strong and invisible but… it has a lot of risks.”               

“Risks in what way?” Izumi asked warily and Nishihiro answered.

“Well, for one it needs a lot of power, too much for it to be safe, especially with the portal draining a lot of our energies.”

“In that way it would take at least four of us to complete the spell, and also…” Sakaeguchi watched in worry as Suyama scanned the page, turning then to find Oki’s face in a grim expression.

“Also what?” Asked Hanai, accepting the page the older boy handed him.

“Well, it’s actually a blood spell.” Sakaeguchi admitted, and the ones who hadn’t yet read the spell raised their eyes, their expressions varying from confusion to fear.

“Blood magic?!” Izumi asked, almost ripping the page from Hanai’s hand.

“Yeah, there was actually nothing more in the library.” Abe interjected, as Sakaeguchi nodded.

“Blood magic? What’s that?” Mizutani asked in confusion, watching as the other’s faces darkened as soon as they set eyes on the page.

“It’s a really dangerous kind of magic, really powerful but it has to be treated carefully, or it could have really nasty consequences for the one whose blood is in the spell.” Suyama answered, and Mizutani nodded in understanding.

“Isn’t blood magic like some sort of black magic though? It sounds like dark magic.” Tajima chimed, accepting the page and scanning it quickly before giving it to Mihashi.

“No, it’s not actually dark magic per se, it’s just… elemental magic; not much people use it even though it’s really strong because it needs a lot of power to do it.” Sakaeguchi explained.

“Should we use it then?” Oki asked hesitantly, eyes scanning the others.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea.” Suyama mused, scratching his head.

“Well, we don’t actually have another choice, do we? We use this spell or we let the dragons find us.” Izumi glared at the floor, leaning back into the couch.

“The spell has another requirement though, it needs blood untouched by magic- that means it can’t be witch blood.” Nishihiro said, and the others paled even more. “What, don’t tell me you didn’t read that part of the spell?” he said, watching as they gulped, caught guilty.

“Well, it does need non witch blood, and I don’t dare ignore that rule, something bad could happen.” Sakaeguchi sighed again, passing his hands through his hair, ruffling it.

“I can do it.” Abe interjected, and all the others in the room turned to look at him in shock. “What? I’m not a witch, so it should work right? Besides, it’s not like you need all of my blood right? It’s just a little from what says in the spell.” He crossed his arms across his chest, daring them to challenge him.

“Well, yes, in theory it should work, but I don’t know…” Sakaeguchi trailed off. “None of us knows this magic, it’s unfamiliar, and the fact that we’d have to do it in a group is pushing our luck too far, it could be too dangerous.”

“I-I-I can… do it!” came a sudden chirp from behind Tajima, and they all turned to look at a shrinking Mihashi, who shivered like a leaf under a sleeping Emi on his lap.

“You can do it?” Hanai asked uncertainly, and the ginger boy nodded at a hundred miles per minute.

“I c-can…I- know!... and…” Mihashi gestured with his hands as he stumbled through his words, his eyes trained down and failing to see the look of incomprehension that crossed the other’s faces.

“He says he’s seen someone do blood magic before, and he remembers how to do it, right Mihashi?” Tajima translated brightly, rubbing at Mihashi’s hair when he nodded.

“Well, that is, um…” Nishihiro muttered, looking at Sakaeguchi.

“Can you do it alone though, or do you just know how to lead?” Izumi asked.

“I c-can… do it! Alone…” Mihashi trailed off, staring intensely at his hands.

“Are you sure? It’s a really draining spell.” Oki said, looking at the boy in concern.

“I can… do it!” Mihashi said once more with determination, and the others exchanged a look.

“What’s with those faces? Mihashi’s really powerful you know!” Tajima said in defense of his friend, who shrunk anxiously again.

“Well, if he says he can do it… I don’t actually see why not.” Nishihiro mused, looking at Sakaeguchi in confirmation.

“Are you sure you can do it safely, Mihashi? Without taking an extreme amount of energy from your body?” Suyama asked in concern, and the ginger boy nodded again.

“We’ll be right behind you then, Mihashi.” Sakaeguchi finally said, giving the boy a slight smile.

“Is there anything you need besides what’s written on the spell, Mihashi?” Oki asked, and the boy nodded again.

“Moon lace! And… cattails herbs!... also chamomile and… red spider lilies… leaves! And… rain water!” Mihashi numbered with his fingers.

“Rain water? There’s a lot of it outside.” Hanai supplied, but Mihashi shook his head.

“Not that! It has to be… pure, not… tainted.” He explained, and Oki nodded.

“I have a few vials of it you can use.” He offered and Mihashi nodded once more.

“Moon lace, cattails herbs and red spider lilies leaves, though? I don’t remember hearing any of those.” Sakaeguchi mused, and Mihashi looked at him in shock.

“But! In the…garden, th-there were…”

“Oh, you mean those plants we saw on our way here?” Tajima asked, and the other boy nodded at him. “We can go pick them outside then!”

“The spell should be made in a main room, isn’t it? Then Mihashi should do it here, since this is the central room of the house.” Mizutani added, looking pensively.

“Yeah, you’re right, this could be like our command center.” Izumi grinned, and Abe rolled his eyes.

“Leave it to you to make some sort of game out of this.”

“Abe, don’t be so stingy! Look at the silver linings!” Izumi exclaimed, not losing the grin.

“Let’s get to it then, the sooner we gather everything the better time we’d make.” Sakaeguchi interrupted before Abe could retaliate, standing up followed by Oki and Nishihiro, the last one carrying the spell page, and heading to the door, disappearing through a darkened hall.

“Let’s go then, Mihashi!” Tajima jumped to his feet and bounced in place as Mihashi stood up carefully, placing the still sleeping fox in his chair.

“Is it okay if we take your things upstairs? I think we might need more room for this.” Suyama said, gesturing to their bags on the floor and Tajima nodded.

“Sure thing! Just tell us where they are later.” He said brightly, watching as Suyama nodded before grabbing Mihashi’s arm and pulling him to the door they’d come in from.

“Is... the rune… itchy?” Mihashi asked as he followed Tajima out of the living room.

“Not really, it’s should hold for a few more minutes, yeah?” he asked as they reached the door, and turned to smile at the boy as he nodded.

“Are you sure you saw all of those plants here though?” Tajima asked as they ventured into the garden, retracing their steps from earlier.

“Mm! the… only one that… wasn’t was… chamomile.” Mihashi said as he crouched down to pick up a few leaves off a plant.

“Huh, they should have some of it though, was is it for?” Tajima asked, taking the leaves from Mihashi’s hands and following him as he bounded to another cluttering of plants.

“For… cleansing!” Mihashi answered, fighting against a strong stem that refused to be cut.

“Huh. Do all of these have to be fresh or can it be dried herbs?”  Tajima asked again, watching as the boy battled the plant.

“Not… necessarily, it’s just… better if they are.” Mihashi pulled at the plant, finally making it break and almost falling backwards on the mud, managing to catch himself with his hand.

“You okay there?” Tajima asked, suppressing a smile when Mihashi stood up and rubbed at his cheek with his mudded hand, leaving a trail of dark wet dirt on his face.

“I’m! Fine!” the boy went to dust his pants when he suddenly remembered his soiled hand, and looked at it as if it were the cause of all his troubles while Tajima tried to cover a snort with a cough.

“We should keep looking for the plants, yeah? How many more?”

“Yes! Just… one!” Mihashi looked up and started walking again, this time going almost to the edge of the forest before carefully lowering himself and prodding at a plant.

“Oh! So that’s the moon lace, right?” Tajima asked, leaning down to look over Mihashi’s shoulder as he nodded. “It’s kinda small though, and looks like a weed, you sure it’s the right plant?”

“Yes! It’s supposed… to look…” he mumbled as he maneuvered the delicate looking stems to cut it so that it wouldn’t die.

“Huh, seems kinda lame for a plant as powerful as you say this one is to look like ordinary grass.” The tanned boy commented, looking as Mihashi carefully selected the stem to cut.

“Let’s go back.” Mihashi said as he stood up and circled around the mud, careful not to fall on his face.

“What’s the moon lace for anyway? Is it necessary to have it in a blood magic ritual?” Tajima asked as he caught up to the other boy, walking side by side.

“Not… really… it’s for… spells stronger.” Mihashi said, looking at the herbs in his hands.

“So it’s something you’re adding to make the shield even stronger?” Tajima asked in awe, and Mihashi nodded rapidly. “Amazing, Mihashi! That’s really cool.” The ginger bot muttered a small ‘ehehehe’, blushing slightly in bliss as they made it back into the house, going through the door quickly to escape from the chilly, roaring wind.

“We’re back!” Tajima announced loudly as they walked into the living room, finding everyone already there.

“Did it stop raining?” Mizutani asked, eyeing Tajima as Mihashi walked from behind him shyly and made his way towards Sakaeguchi.

“Nah, doesn’t look like it’ll stop for a while. It’s really cold out there.”

“Why aren’t you wet then? The garden is soaked.” Suyama pointed, and Tajima laughed.

“It’s Mihashi! He made this rune thingy when we went out a while ago, and it’s still working apparently.” He pointed at his forehead, where the rune was glowing faintly.

“Is that…?” Nishihiro asked in awe, quickly coming closer to Tajima. “Izumi come here.” He said urgently, motioning with his hand without taking his eyes from the other boy’s forehead.

“What’s the matter?” Izumi stood up slowly, as if in pain, and walked across the room.

“Is that what I think it is?” Nishihiro pointed to Tajima’s forehead, and the other’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Holy shit, I’ve never seen one of those in real life.”

“What is it?” Mizutani bounced to them, Hanai trailing behind him.

“It’s… elemental magic, or runes.” Izumi answered, still looking surprised.

“It’s really ancient, really powerful magic. It’s believed to have extinguished, since everyone who could perform it has long died.” Nishihiro clarified, glancing briefly at the others.

“And Mihashi can do that?” Hanai asked, amazement in his voice.

“Sure thing! It’s the second time he’s done it already, it’s really nice not getting soaked by the rain.” Tajima said brightly.

“That’s some power.” Mizutani whistled, peering at the boy’s forehead.

“What is it guys? We have to make this spell as soon as possible.” Sakaeguchi called from where he stood in front of a small table with many ingredients along with Oki, Abe and a fidgety Mihashi.

“Mihashi can do elemental magic.” Izumi announced as they all turned to look at the others.

“What, really?” Sakaeguchi asked, his eyebrows raising.

“Mihashi, you can do elemental magic?” Oki asked the boy at his side, who blinked at him in confusion.

“Elemental… magic?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“You don’t know what it is?” Suyama asked in shock while Mihashi shook his head.

“Did you go to a witch school, Mihashi?” Nishihiro asked, and the ginger boy’s eyes widened, nodding quickly.

“M-Mihoshi…” he muttered, shoulders raising in anxiety.

“Mihoshi? I’ve never heard from it, is it also a coven?” the ginger boy nodded his assent, and the other whistled “Wow, how come you don’t know elemental magic then?” Izumi asked, but Mihashi shrunk even further.

“They didn’t… like me… not teaching… learned o-on my own.” He muttered, closing his arms defensively in front of himself, eyes on the ground as the others looked at him in shock.

“I see.” Sakaeguchi was the first to recover after a few seconds of silence, and looked at the anxious boy sadly before talking again. “Let’s get to do this, then. The spell seems to take a bit to settle in.” the others nodded, leaving Tajima’s forehead alone and dispersing through the room.

“Mihashi? Are you okay? Do you need a little time?” Oki asked quietly, moving to stand slightly before Mihashi, as if to cover him from something.

“I’m… fine.” Came the muffled response, and soon later Mihashi’s shoulders relaxed, his body going back to normal, even if his eyes remained down.

“Is there anything else you need? We brought everything from the paper, as well as the rain water and a stone basin.”

“That’s… fine.”

“Let’s prepare for the spell then.” Oki said, and started to move to the table before Abe interrupted.

“How much blood are you going to need?”

“Just… a few… drops.” Mihashi answered slowly, curling back into himself as he moved to the table, and the relaxing again when he touched the plants and put them into the stone basin, along with the dried chamomile and the rain water.

“Take it, then.” Abe thrust his hand over the table, and Mihashi startled and jumped slightly back. “What?” he asked, looking at Sakaeguchi and pointing his extended hand towards him this time.

“It has to be the person who casts the spell the one who draws the blood.” The short boy shook his head, and Abe sighed before offering his hand to Mihashi once more, who looked at him in fright.

“Hey now-“ Abe started to growl when Izumi appeared at his side.

“Abe, calm down. Mihashi, you can continue doing what you were doing.” Mihashi looked up from where he’d let his eyes fall, and nodded hesitantly, approaching the table once more when Izumi grabbed Abe’s arm and lowered it.

“Izumi, what the hell-?”

“Spells have an order, especially the harder ones. You read the paper, didn’t you? The blood is one of the last ingredients.” Izumi interrupted calmly, watching as Mihashi grabbed the bowl with the leaves and scurried to the middle of the room, setting it down carefully before returning for more ingredients.

“Izumi’s right. Mihashi knows what he’s doing, there’s no need to pressure him.” Sakaeguchi said, smiling faintly as Mihashi bounded from the table to the floor carrying different items, setting them carefully in an exact circle. He stood up and looked at the table, only to realize the only thing left was a small silver plate and a needle, freezing a little before starting to fidget, his eyes traveling from the table to where Sakaeguchi, Abe and Oki stood, and then to the floor.

“What is it Mihashi? Why’re you fidgeting around like that?” Tajima asked, approaching the boy who snapped his head in surprise.

“T-tajima-kun…!” he blinked as Tajima grinned at him.

“What’s up? Do you need something?”

“Um! The… ingredient… last for… almost… soon…” he babbled incoherently, but Tajima nodded in understanding.

“Let’s go then, you need any help?” he threw his arm across the ginger boy’s shoulder, who shook his head mildly. “Okay then. Hey Abe! You’re gonna give the blood right? Mihashi’s ready!” the tanned boy announced, dragging Mihashi with his arm.

“See Abe? I told you.” Izumi said with a smirk as Abe rolled his eyes, turning to face a squirming Mihashi and a grinning Tajima. Feeling his gaze, Mihashi froze for a second, then quickly reached for the silver plate and needle, clutching them anxiously as he faced Abe’s stretched hand.

“It’s… going to… sting.” He warned timidly before hesitantly grabbing the scowling boy’s hand, pinching his index finger with the needle before dropping a few dabs of blood into the middle of the silver plate, and releasing Abe’s hand.

“That’s all?” Tajima asked, almost in disappointment as he looked at the scarce little red droplets.

“That’s… all.” Mihashi confirmed, lowering his eyes and scrambling back into the center of the room as Suyama made his way to the group and reached for Abe’s hand.

“Hey, Mihashi, is it okay if we all stay here or should we go outside?” Tajima called to the retreating boy, who halted in his steps and looked back.

“Better… out… just in case…” he trailed off, but they all understood; _In case I mess up and it goes out of control._

“We’ll be outside then, come tell us when you’re done.” Sakaeguchi said, smiling kindly before turning around and ushering everyone out of the room and into the hall, turning to smile at Mihashi once more before closing the door behind himself with a soft click.

Mihashi sighed and looked at the silver plate in his hands, contemplating the blood darkening by the second before he turned his eyes to the carefully arranged spell circle, putting the plate in the middle and stepping back to the edge of the formation, taking the piece of charcoal from his pocket and drawing a concentration and strength rune in each of his arms. Once that was done, he put the charcoal stick back in his pocket and kneeled slowly, his knees barely avoiding the imaginary line between the bowls of ingredients.

He started to even out his breathing, willing his mind to go blank, concentrating on the power flowing around himself, closing his eyes and reaching to the tendrils of magic around him, bending them carefully to accommodate the space for his spell. He stretched his arms and softly placed them on the floor between the bowls, leaning his forehead into the back of his hands, his head pointing straight to the small silver plate.

Abruptly, the needle in the plate raised, floating to stand right in the middle of the blood drops, which aligned in a perfect triangle. The air started to get heavy, a low rumbling coming from the earth itself, and the bowls started to glow a pure white, consuming what was in them slowly, the glow growing until it was an almost blinding light filling the room, reaching to every darkened place and then expanding, going through walls and out of the house, covering a perimeter around the building, creating a dome of sparkling white light for a few seconds and then receding, traveling back to the living room faster than it had spread, until the brightness filled only the room for a few more seconds before starting to dim, leaving a warm air in the room as it left completely, absorbing back into the witch that crouched on the floor, revealing empty bowls and a tired, barely breathing boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mihashi!! is!! amazing!! and everyone!! should!! know it!!!!   
> okay okay, i just love mihashi too much for it to be healthy but oh well  
> what do you think? we're getting to the fun punching parts yaaay!!  
> please don't forget to leave a comment if you like this fic, it really does help so much for me to keep writing  
> come talk to me on twitter or tumblr, i love exchanging headcanons and all that  
> see you next time!!~


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *banging pots and pans* school is kicking my ass and it just starteeed~  
> i'm not actually quite that late, am i? oh well, i tried   
> um i don't think there're any new warnings, just please excuse any horrible mistakes you might find i'm so tired my eyes are barely open i'm running on pure caffeine so yeah

Mihashi breathed raggedly, collapsing into the floor, boneless for a few minutes, until he finally opened his eyes and rolled to his side, breathing a little more controlled. He stood up slowly, feeling the exhaustion in his heavy and shaky limbs, and dragged his feet to the door, walking sluggishly and praying not to fall as he turned the doorknob.

“Mihashi!” came the shout as he pushed the door open, and he barely had time to blink before he finally collapsed, expecting to meet the floor but finding himself pressed against someone instead.

“Mihashi, are you alright?” asked another voice, but he couldn’t decipher who it was.

“Is he conscious?” another voice, this one frantic.

“Shit, he’s bleeding.” Came another voice, gruffer and so much closer than the others.

“Shit, Mihashi! Wake up! You can’t pass out!” the first voice shouted again, this time closer, and Mihashi noticed something familiar about it through the haze in his head.

“Tajima, don’t scream! We need to check him, Abe can you carry him inside? The couch is closer.” A stern voice commanded, and a grunt came from somewhere close to him.

“Is it safe to bring him back into the living room though?” someone asked in the distance, and Mihashi barely registered the warm feeling in his nose as he was being jostled and lifted from the floor, his limbs hanging limp.

“It doesn’t matter, we need to lay him down.” The voice followed as someone moved him, and soon he could feel his back against something soft, and he groaned, glad to finally stop moving.

“Mihashi? Can you hear me? Twitch a finger if you can.” A kind voice instructed, and he managed to gather all the remaining of his strength to move his finger slightly. “He’s awake.” The voice announced and rustles could be heard, along with a mutter of ‘thank god’. A warm pressure settled in his chest and head, and he suddenly was acutely aware of just how cold he was when the pressure started spreading warmth along his body, his muscles relaxing and the ache diminishing. He groaned again when the comforting pressure lifted and he tried opening his eyes, his eyelids fluttering open.

“Mihashi, can you see me? Do you know where you are?” Suyama’s face slowly came into focus, and the boy blinked once before groaning again.

“Hey, Mihashi. Welcome back.” Sakaeguchi’s face appeared beside the other boy, Tajima closely behind him.

“Mihaaashiii, you scared mee.” Wailed Tajima, sitting by his legs.

“I-i-i… didn’t…” he croaked, his voice raspy.

“Idiot Mihashi! Why didn’t you say something like this would happen, you idiot?!” another voice said, and Mihashi curled up on himself a bit before turning his head to the side, finding a disgruntled Abe along with the others.

“I-i-i…” he stammered anxiously, his eyes not focusing on anything.

“Oi! Don’t talk to Mihashi like that.” Tajima chimed, glaring slightly at Abe.

“Mihashi, it’s okay, don’t worry. We’re just glad you’re fine.” Sakaeguchi interjected, placing his hand soothingly on the ginger boy’s shoulder, who relaxed and nodded a bit.

“Mihashi, did it work?” Nishihiro asked from the side, and Mihashi sat up carefully with the help of Suyama and Tajima before nodding.

“Yes, I think… it should be… done.”

“Nice! Well done, Mihashi. Now, what do we do?” Mizutani asked, smiling.

“Why are you so damn happy? There’s still a dragon invasion coming, in case you forgot.” Izumi drawled, looking somewhat cheerful as well.

“They’re right, we’re still vulnerable. We should prepare some other spells, just in case, and maybe some potions.” Oki mused, touching his chin.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Sakaeguchi asked, sitting by Mihashi and leaning forward.

“Mm, a few ones, we’ll have to work right away though.”

“I c-can help!” Mihashi chirped, going to stand up when Suyama put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Mihashi, you should stay here resting.” Suyama said and Sakaeguchi nodded along.

“Yeah, both you and Izumi will stay right here, sitting on this couch.”

“What?! No! I can do stuff!” Izumi exclaimed indignant.

“No can do, you stay here resting your mind, you’re still tired.” Suyama ordered, standing up from where he’d been kneeling on the floor, giving Mihashi’s shoulder a final reassuring squeeze.

“But- Oi! Let me go! I’m not tired anymore!” Izumi protested as Mizutani grabbed them and led them to the couch, sitting them beside the stunned ginger boy when Sakaeguchi stood up.

“Now, both of you play nice and don’t complain, we’ll be back in a while when we get all the ingredients.” Sakaeguchi said, grabbing Tajima’s arm and pulling him along with the others to the door, closing it behind them and leaving a stunned Mihashi and an indignant Izumi sitting on the couch.

* * *

 

Abe was confused.

It felt like that had become his default state ever since the banshee attack, and even if Nishihiro had tried to explain everything that was happening, there was only so much his brain could digest in so little time, especially with the impending dragon attack –never mind that _he didn’t even know dragons existed_ until a while ago. And even though he was getting used to the unusual things that had started to happen in his life ever since that fateful day –and even before, when he’d started seeing the damn monsters as a kid- he couldn’t help but feel baffled at the strong emotions he was feeling.

And he was very confused by the surge of concern that had washed over him when Mihashi opened the door and promptly keeled over, almost passed out and bleeding his brains out. His body had frozen in horror for a split second, but he’d managed to catch the other boy before he slammed into the floor, even if his insides felt like lead and his head was dizzy with worry. He wasn’t used to feeling such strong emotions, especially with people he’d met not even a day ago; he could count with his hands how many times he’d been actually scared for someone’s wellbeing, and Shun was in almost every one of those times.

He pondered over all of this while he measured a few ingredients that Oki had told him to, half listening to the others conversation until something caught his full attention.

“Tajima, can you do magic like Mihashi?” Mizutani asked, cutting a few herbs beside the freckled boy, who was stirring something in a pot. Abe looked up just in time to see Hanai, who stood behind the chattering boys washing a few cauldrons, perk up and turn his head slightly, listening attentively, and Abe raised his eyebrows at the apparent interest in his friend for the freckled, cheerful witch.

“Nope! I’ve never done any spells!” Tajima grinned brightly, flicking his wrist the way Oki had instructed him to do with the potion.

“What? Really?” Mizutani asked in shock, halting his movements in favour of staring at the other boy.

“Yeah! I’ve never really done any magic, back at home it was always mom or grandpa who usually used magic.” He replied, still concentrated in the bubbling concoction, didn’t notice all the other witches in the room now stopping their movements to look at him in surprise.

“Tajima, you didn’t go to a witch school?” Sakaeguchi asked slowly, and the other boy finally raised his eyes.

“Nope! Grandpa taught me some things back at home, but I never really met other witches.”

“Then, how did you meet Mihashi?” Wondered Nishihiro, and the freckled one laughed.

“I met him a few days ago in town! He’d just moved in and was lost, looking for some store and I helped him find it, but then Emi appeared and when he saw it I finally sensed some magic in him.” The boy explained with a grin, then turning his head back down to inspect the cauldron.

“A few days ago? Wow, you guys seem awfully close.” Suyama pointed, and Tajima just laughed.

“Mihashi’s a good guy, he’s really kind and powerful!” Tajima hummed as he turned his wrist, and with final flick took the spoon out of the potion, lowering the heat and letting it to boil for a few minutes.

Abe tuned the conversation out after that, barely registering the sound of laughter a few minutes later, instead just focusing on measuring everything exactly as Oki had told him. When he had finished putting everything on the assigned plates and cleaning, he looked up to find Sakaeguchi looking at him contemplatively.

“What?” he deadpanned, but Sakaeguchi just smiled, seemingly coming out of a trance.

“Nothing, nothing. Are you ready with those?” he asked instead, pointing at the ingredients and Abe nodded. “I think everyone is about ready too, so we’ll go back to the living room to set up everything.” Sakaeguchi said, and just a minute later Oki cam to their side.

“Are you done?” He asked, and waited for Abe and Sakaeguchi to nod before he continued. “Let’s go upstairs then, everyone is ready and we should set everything up as soon as possible.”

“Here, Abe.” Nishihiro handed him a tray for the several pots of ingredients, and he nodded in thanks before taking it and placing them on it. Everyone started filing out of the kitchen, each of them carrying their respective ingredients, and soon they were in the hall, opening the living room door to find Izumi laughing and Mihashi doing some weird, hiccupping laugh along.

“Hey guys, what are you laughing about?” Sakaeguchi smiled as he entered the room, setting the bag of whatever it was he’d brought from the kitchen.

“It-It’s just-”Izumi wheezed out, but then they looked at Mihashi and started laughing again, clutching their stomach while Mihashi hiccupped by their side, his face flushed.

“It’s nice to see you’re getting along.” Suyama commented as he set down the candles he’d brought, glancing briefly at the laughing duo.

“Oh my god, I can’t.” Izumi muttered, hands on their chest as they tried to stop laughing, finally evening out their breathing. “You guys brought everything?” they asked once they could talk, still fanning their face with a hand.

“Yeah, we’re ready to start.” Sakaeguchi confirmed, moving to stand beside Izumi.

“I think… yeah, let me just run up to grab a few books, I’ll come right down.” Nishihiro said, and quickly took off to the stairs.

“This guy I swear, he really reads too much for his own good.” Izumi muttered, shaking their head and Suyama laughed.

“Well, we would be nowhere without him, that’s for sure.”

“True.” Admitted the blue eyed one, stretching their neck with an audible pop.

“What were you and Mihashi laughing about?” Sakaeguchi asked curiously, sitting in the floor and looking at the other side of the couch, where Mihashi was chirping happily at Tajima.

“Just a few stories, nothing important.” Izumi replied, their lip curling in a small smile.

“Why are you so happy about? There’s still a dragon invasion coming in case you forgot.” Mizutani parroted Izumi’s previous words at them with a goofy grin, and Izumi rolled their eyes.

“Don’t get cocky you-” Izumi started with a grin, but stopped mid-sentence as the grin slid off their face and it became blank instead, their eyes wide and unfocused.

“Izumi, oi, Izumi.” Sakaeguchi scrambled to his feet, his voice enough to gather everyone’s attention as Suyama rushed to his side.

“What’s that?” Tajima asked cluelessly as Mihashi quickly stood up, swaying a bit before Tajima put his hand on his back.

“It’s a vision, the last ones seem to be stronger.” Abe explained, scowling when Mihashi jumped at his voice.

“At least there’s no blood this time.” Mizutani commented wryly as they laid Izumi on the couch, their breathing ragged and eyes wandering but not seeing anything.

“I’m back! It was just- what’s going on?” Nishihiro hurried through the door with a couple of books in his hands, but quickly stopped when he saw their faces.

“Izumi’s having another vision.” Abe explained, and Nishihiro nodded in understanding.

“Izumi!” Sakaeguchi said, and they all turned to the couch, where Izumi was breathing a little more calmly.

“No, no, no, no, this is bad, this is so bad.” They muttered, eyes looking everywhere until they settled on Sakaeguchi’s face. “We are so screwed.”

“What did you saw?” Oki asked, standing behind the couch and the others moved to surround it as well, while Izumi covered their face with their hands.

“It’s not just a dragon invasion, there’s one particular dragon causing the storm.” Izumi spoke trough their hands, their voice muffled. “It’s the Yamato-no-Oraichi.”

* * *

 

“What?” Nishihiro was the first to break the silence after Izumi’s declaration, his face pale.

“But… wasn’t that dragon, you know, dead?” Oki asked hesitantly, brown eyes wide.

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be but…” Sakaeguchi looked at Izumi uncertainly, and they just shook their head, looking at everyone once they sat upright.

“It was supposed to be dead, but I don’t know what the fuck happened, and it’s very much alive and leading a horde of also very much alive, very dangerous dragons.” They groaned, the pain in their head growing stronger, and for once they wished their nose would just bleed already, if only to alleviate some of the ache in his brain.

“What’s that dragon though? I don’t think I’ve heard of it.” Tajima asked, scratching his head.

“It’s a dragon from Japanese myths, supposedly it could create huge storms, but the story tells it was killed by the storm god Susanoo, who took the sword that the dragon had in its tail.” Hanai answered, scrunching up his eyebrows.

“There are other myths that say other things, but that’s the gist of it. It was supposed to be dead, since Susanoo slayed it and got the three sacred Imperial Regalia.” Nishihiro added, and Tajima titled his head.

“So a really dangerous dragon, then?” he asked, and Izumi snorted.

“That’s really taking it lightly, but yeah, it’s really dangerous.”

“And so what? Does that change anything?” Abe asked, looking at Izumi, and they raised an eyebrow.

“You’re seriously asking if the fact that a human eating, eight headed, really dangerous dragon passing through the human realm changes anything?” they mocked, but Abe just nodded.

“Yeah, I am. I mean, it’s not like that’s going to make the hoard pass closer, is it?”

“No, but it’s still a ginormous dragon.” Oki said, his face becoming paler.

“And so what?” Abe repeated, looking calm. “It’s not like the fact is bigger it’s going to affect us, it’ll pass along with all the other dragons and that’ll be that.”

“Abe's right.” Tajima chimed with a grin. “And even if it comes near us, we’ll kick its ass.”

“Hey now, we’re talking about a dragon that could only be defeated by a god here, and I don’t think any of us has power enough to pass as a god to defeat it once more.” Mizutani said, looking gloom.

“And the fact that it’s not going to pass near us doesn’t mean it’s not going to pass near other covens, and destroy them if it can.” Sakaeguchi added, worry creasing his face.

“Yeah, we don’t know how long the hoard will stay in this realm either; for all we know, it could destroy all of Japan before it goes away.” Nishihiro said, plopping down in the floor as if his legs couldn’t stand his weight anymore.

“Well, the other covens can deal with it if it comes too close then.” Abe replied stubbornly, and Izumi closed their eyes, feeling another painful throb of their head before they spoke.

“The hoard won’t stay much, half an hour or an hour tops, I don’t think that’ll be enough to cause so much damage.” They said, resting their hand in their forehead and rubbing tiredly at their eyes.

“You guys are oddly positive about all this.” Hanai commented in surprise.

“And why not?” Tajima chirped, while Abe shook his head. _Is he that confident? Or just plain stupid?_ Came the thought from Mizutani’s general direction, and Izumi fought to suppress a snort.

 “It’s just stating facts. As long as it doesn’t pass near us, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s true, but it still doesn’t make me feel better about all this.” Mizutani commented, and Izumi rolled their eyes.

“That’s because it’s impossible to feel remotely calm with all this, at least if you’re sane”

“And who said I was sane?” Mizutani smiled goofily at them, and they huffed.

“Well, the plan doesn’t change, then. We just keep doing all the preparations we were doing before the vision.” Sakaeguchi instructed and they all broke off in separate groups, each doing something different.

Izumi stayed where they were, wanting to avoid being scolded by Suyama or Sakaeguchi about resting, and they watched with a smirk as Mihashi slipped past the other’s notice to join Tajima, helping him with whatever it was he was doing.

“Why are you smirking?” a voice sounded from behind them, and it took all of their willpower to avoid jumping in fright.

“Why do you care?” they shot back, turning in time to see Mizutani grimace before he walked around the couch and sat.

“Woah, stingy. And here I was, hoping that maybe you actually felt better after a vision…” Mizutani pressed his hand against his chest, and the blue eyed one chortled.

“Shouldn’t you be doing something else besides being here bothering me? Everyone else is doing potions or creating amulets and spell, Oki didn’t tell you to do something?”

“Why, are you worried I’ll leave you alone?” the other grinned.

“You totally missed my point.”

“Sakaeguchi told me to watch you, in case you weren’t feeling well.” Mizutani admitted, and Izumi’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.

“I don’t need a baby sitter, you know?” they said cuttingly, and the other boy hurried to shake his head.

“That’s not what I meant. We’ve all seen you get worse visions, and since this one seemed mild in comparison, they’re worried that you might be hiding the pain or something like that.” Mizutani explained, looking at where his finger was playing with a small fluff in the cushion. “I am worried.” He muttered, a slight pink tint in his face.

“I’m alright, seriously, there’s no need to worry.” Izumi sighed, their face feeling oddly warm.

“For real? You’re not saying that just to seem tough?” Mizutani asked, peeking through his lashes and Izumi sighed again.

“Do I look like the kind of person who would lie just to seem tough?”

“Yes.”

“Well I’m not.” Izumi scoffed, now outright scowling. “I’m fine, I’m not going to die.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Now get out of the couch and go make yourself useful.” Izumi almost snapped, rubbing at their temples tiredly.

“I can’t.” Mizutani shook his head, smiling sadly. “I’m not that good at magic, not anything besides fire magic, that is. I already made a few things explode back in the kitchen.” He smiled self-deprecatingly, and Izumi looked at him in thought.

“Why aren’t you good at magic? You must be powerful if you have fire magic.” They pointed, but the other boys just shrugged.

“I don’t know, I’ve never really been able to do much.” He admitted, rubbing his neck.

“Well, that’s bullshit. I bet you just didn’t have the right teachers. Once all of this is over, I’ll teach you myself. And then we’ll see if you’re really not good at magic.” Izumi huffed out, feeling strangely pissed, not noticing the awe struck expression the other boy wore.

“You’re going to teach me?” he asked in surprise, eyes so wide they could fall out of his skull.

“That’s what I said, didn’t I? So you better prepare, I’m not exactly patient.”

“Yes, Master!” Mizutani saluted, now back to his usual goofy, carefree smile and Izumi fought against a smile once more.

“You can still make yourself useful though, I bet the others might need some help.” Izumi said, and this time the red haired boy nodded.

“I’ll go see if they need anything. I’ll be back though! Don’t you think you’ve gotten rid of me that easily!” he exclaimed as he stood up, chiding them with a mocking frown, but then he smiled, wide and content before turning around with a small wave, and Izumi felt a strange tingling sensation going along their whole body, quickly averting his eyes to a grumpy Abe standing in a corner of the room with a big scowl and a tray on his hands to try and forget the warm feeling of their face.

* * *

 

“And that’s done!” Tajima exclaimed as he made a flourish with the wooden spoon, unwittingly spraying everything within distance with a few drops of a dark, sludgy substance.

“A-amazing, Tajima-kun!” Mihashi gushed, clapping on the side, sitting seiza on the floor, eyes wide and face dotted with the potion, making it seem as if he had a bad case of pimples.

“Hehe, it’s nothing, really.” Tajima boasted, making a big show of turning the spoon between his fingers, spraying more of the potion until a hand stopped him.

“Stop that, you’re making a mess.” Hanai chided him, grabbing his wrist to stop the movement.

“A little potion can do no wrong.” Tajima grinned, passing the spoon to his other hand to continue with the show when Hanai stopped him once more.

“It can if you’re spraying a room full of magic! Didn’t you hear Oki? These potions can have nasty side effects!”

“Oh, relax, we’re just playing around.” Tajima defended himself, looking at Mihashi, who was cleaning his nose with his sleeve, and liberating one of his arms to throw it around the ginger boy’s shoulders. “Right, Mihashi?”

“Um!” the boy chirped, his sleeve covered hand still raised in front of his nose.

“Hey now, you can’t play around with a dangerous potion.”

“It’s fine, I already finished anyway. Hey Mihashi, let’s go take this to Sakaeguchi!” Tajima stood up quickly, and passing the spoon to Mihashi, he grabbed the cauldron and quickly walked away, leaving a lightly frowning Hanai in their previous spot.

“Tajima-kun…is…?” Mihashi asked, hurrying to catch up with the tanned boy’s fast stride.

“Nah, I’m not mad. Don’t worry.” He smiled, and Mihashi gave a small smile in return just as they arrived where Sakaeguchi was, reading some pages of a book and writing on a paper.

“Hey, Sakaeguchi! We finished the potion!” Tajima said, holding up the cauldron while Mihashi held up the spoon to grab the blond boy’s attention.

“Ah, that’s good, just leave it in a corner of the room, it has to settle down for a bit.” Sakaeguchi smiled, pausing on his scribbling to look up.

“Right away! Do you need us to do something else?” Tajima asked, shifting his hold on the potion.

“Mm, not that I can think of; everything else is being taking care of already.” He smiled again, and Tajima nodded.

“Let us know if you need something else, then!” he said before bouncing off towards the corner of the room where a cauldron with a silvery potion was already resting, Mihashi following his trail.

“Huff, this thing sure is heavy if you hold it for too long.” Tajima commented as he set down the cauldron, rubbing his sore arms.

“Tajima-kun… is… are… hurt?” Mihashi asked, blinking up at him from where he’d bent to place the spoon on top of the potion.

“Nah I’m fine, it must be just a little cramping from stirring the potion for so long.” He grinned in reassurance, and Mihashi nodded, satisfied. “What do we do now, Mihashi? We’re free for the time being.”

“We should! Emi…” Mihashi chirped, and Tajima rubbed his chin contemplatively.

“Mhm, I don’t think it would be such a good idea to bring Emi into the room, there’s too much magic in the air, and we don’t know what might happen to her.” He said, turning just in time to see Mihashi deflating like a balloon. “Oh! We could go bother Izumi, they look way too relaxed.” Tajima bounced off without expecting an answer, plopping himself down into the couch.

“Izumi! What are you doing?” Tajima asked eagerly, grinning when he saw Mihashi surrounding the couch and sitting seiza on the floor in front of them, looking with wide eyes.

“I’m just here, trying to rest so that I can finally join in on the fun.” Izumi replied, cracking one of their blue eyes open.

“You can’t move around yet?”

“Suyama won’t let me. I feel fine though, not tired anymore.”

“Mmh, you do look slightly pale.” Tajima said, leaning forward to inspect their face.

“I-Izumi-kun is!...” Mihashi stuttered, and Izumi raised their eyebrows in confusion.

“Nah, they’re not sick, just tired.” Tajima answered the ginger boy, who’d leaned forward in concern.

“I’m fine Mihashi, no need to worry.” They smiled a little before schooling their face back to its usual neutral expression.

“Maybe you’re hungry, I know I am hungry!”

“…That’s actually not a bad guess, we haven’t really eaten anything today.” Izumi mused, looking at Tajima in surprise.

“What! Really? Why?” he asked, both him and Mihashi looking at the other in shock.

“There just hasn’t been time, I guess.”

“We must make this right. Is there anything we can grab to eat?” Tajima asked eagerly as he stood up, looking at Izumi expectantly.

“Mm, not really. Nothing cooked at least, and since Suyama or Sakaeguchi usually cook…” they trailed off, looking at the busy Sakaeguchi with a hand scanning a book and the other writing, while Suyama was nowhere to be seen.

“I-I-i!” Mihashi chirped, looking at them enthusiastically, and Tajima raised an eyebrow.

“What is it Mihashi?”

“I can! Cook!” the ginger boy said, and Tajima’s face morphed in delight.

“That’s right! Mihashi can cook! I bet we could go and make food for everyone!” Tajima exclaimed, Mihashi nodding excitedly along.

“There are a lot of us, though.” Izumi pointed out, but Tajima shrugged it off.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! We can help.”

“Can you cook?” Izumi asked him skeptically.

“Nope, can you?” Tajima grinned, his enthusiasm underrated.

“Not really…”

“It’s f-fine! I c-can!...” Mihashi chirped again, standing up this time.

“See? Mihashi says it’s fine! Let’s go then!” Tajima bounced on his feet, ready to take off before he looked back and paused. “C’mon Izumi! Let’s go!”

“That’s…” Izumi started to protest, but Tajima grabbed their arm, pulling them to their feet.

“No buts! You know where everything is, we need you there!” he said, and took off walking again, Mihashi by his side and a reluctant Izumi being dragged behind them, out of the room and into the hall leading to the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm izumizu trash yoooo   
> i don't know when the next update might be since i actually have tests starting next week and i really can't slack off since it's my last year i need a good gpa  
> thank you for reading this lil' story of mine, you're welcome to come talk to me in twitter, kick my ass into gear so that i keep writing  
> as always, please please pretty please leave a kudo and/or a comment if you like this fic, i can't stress enough just how much getting feedback helps my writing process  
> see you next time!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey, surprise! I have returned with a new chapter!  
> warnings for this one are: blood and possible misspelling of things, i'm v tired

“Sakaeguchi!” Nishihiro called as soon as he stumbled into the room, holding an impressive amount of parchment in his arms.

“Yeah?” the blond boy looked up from his writing, focusing his eyes on the newcomer.

“It’s done!” Nishihiro raised his arms slightly, showing the other witch the papers.

“Oh, good job. I’m about done as well. How are Suyama and Oki doing?” both of them looked at the other corner of the room, where both witches were seated on the floor, Oki with Hanai and Suyama with Abe, each of them pouring ingredients into a cauldron.

“I think they’re about done too, see? Suyama’s already throwing in the mugwort.” Nishihiro pointed, and Sakaeguchi nodded absentmindedly before turning back to the paper in his lap.

“I better finish as well, then.” He muttered, and the other nodded and sat himself cross legged on the floor beside the other witch, watching everyone on the room curiously, then doing a double take when he saw the empty couch, and mentally counting those on the room.

“Eh, Sakaeguchi?” he asked hesitantly, waiting for the low hum of the other boy before continuing. “Have you seen Izumi? They’re not in the room, did they run off somewhere to do magic?”

“Nah, they left with Tajima and Mihashi a while ago.” The blond witch explained, not taking his eyes from his scribbling.

“That doesn’t mean they didn’t go away to make magic. Where’s Mizutani, by the way?”

“I sent him off to look for some scrolls I needed and then he went off to somewhere, I don’t really know where.” He mused, scratching his forehead with the back of the pencil and leaving a dark mark.

“Where could they all be?” Nishihiro asked, thinking out loud, just as footsteps sounded on the hallway, Tajima and Mizutani popping their heads through the door.

“Okaaaaay, I know you’re all, like, super busy or something but-” Mizutani started, quickly being cut off by the other boy.

“Mihashi made food! So all of you drag your butts to the kitchen, you need to eat something before the great attack.” Tajima grinned, and then bolted back down the hall at great speed.

“… Well, you heard him. Mihashi made lunch so let’s go eat before it gets cold.” Mizutani said, looking at them with a grin.

“But-” Oki started, and Mizutani shook his head.

“Don’t worry, Izumi says there’s at least another hour before the dragon attack, so if you’re not done yet, there’s still time.” The red haired boy said, opening the door wider.

“I guess there’s nothing wrong with eating a bit. I’m already done, too.” Sakaeguchi said, looking at the others.

“We’re done too.” Suyama added, placing the lid on the cauldron and standing up to stretch.

“Our potion needs a while to settle, but if I just add this…” Oki sprinkled a dried herb into the bubbling liquid and nodded when it turned a deep blue. “Yeah, that should do it, now it just needs to settle.”

“Perfect! Let’s go then, or Tajima won’t leave any food for us.” Mizutani grinned as they all stood up, and then turned around, leading the way back into the kitchen, where muffled voices were coming from.

“-ut Izumiii!” they heard Tajima whine trough the closed door.

“No buts. Mihashi cooked all of this, the least we can do is set the table and wait for the others.” Izumi’s voice this time, scolding Tajima.

“I don’t have any trouble setting the table, but I’m hungry! Can’t we just-?”

“No.”

“Mihashiiiii, say something to them.” Tajima wailed, now coming into view as Mizutani opened the door and they filed in.

“You impatient little brat, look they’re here, it wasn’t even that long of a wait.” Izumi huffed, and quickly slid into a seat.

“Now, now, don’t fight.” Sakaeguchi intervened before Tajima could retort, quickly going to place a placating hand on a distressed looking Mihashi.

“You guys took too long.” Tajima kept complaining as he took another seat, the rest doing the same.

“We literally came here right away.” Abe deadpanned.

“Still!” Tajima didn’t back down, and eagerly grabbed his eating utensils.

“Mihashi, you sit down, we’ll take care of serving.” Sakaeguchi smiled as Oki handed him plates, but the other book shook his head.

“I-I c-can help!”

“It’s fine, Mihashi. You cooked all of this own your own, just go sit down now.” Oki smiled at him too, and Mihashi deflated a bit before nodding slowly and making his way to the chair besides Tajima.

“Need a hand?” Suyama stood beside Oki, occupying the spot Mihashi had just vacated.

“Yeah sure, you too can start taking the plates to the table.” Sakaeguchi handed them the served plates to take.

“It looks so good!” Tajima said excitedly when Oki placed his and Mihashi’s plates in front of them.

“Don’t go stuffing your face now, wait just a little bit more.” Izumi warned when they saw Tajima starting to move his hands, and the tanned boy set his utensils back down, complying. When all the plates were served and all of them seated, a loud “Thanks for the meal!” sounded in the room, and quickly they all began shovelling food on their mouths.

“This is so good! Mihashi, it’s so good!” Tajima cried, looking at the ginger boy at his side with his cheeks full.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s disgusting.” Izumi chided from across the table, and Tajima just nodded before turning back to his quickly disappearing food. Soon after, all the plates were cleaned of food, and all of them lay resting on their respective chairs, completely satisfied.

“Oh, I could just go to sleep now.” Mizutani muttered, his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier with every blink.

“We have to get back to the living room though, there’s no time to rest.” Suyama reminded, although he also looked on the brink of falling asleep.

“Don’t say that when you’re obviously so sleepy.” Izumi laughed, stretching their arms above their head.

“We really should go now, before we start falling asleep.” Sakaeguchi stood, prompting everyone to do the same with different reactions.

“Mihashi, hey, wake up, we’re going back to duty.” Tajima gently shook the lightly slumbering boy awake, and he squawked before opening his hazel eyes and standing up automatically, swaying a bit until Tajima held his arm and led him out of the kitchen following the others.

“How long until they arrive, Izumi?” Nishihiro asked, suppressing a yawn unsuccessfully. 

“Uh… I don’t really know, there’s too much interference now.” Izumi explained as they dropped on the couch, closing their eyes and leaning back for a bit as they watched. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit, the portal’s already open.” They snapped their eyes open, frantic.

“How long until they’re here?” Sakaeguchi asked, all traces of sleep gone in an instant.

“I don’t know, too much energy in the middle. Ten minutes, maybe?” Izumi replied, scrunching their eyebrows in concentration.

“Ten minutes?!” Mizutani exclaimed, eyes wide and scared.

“I’ll go check on the shields.” Sakaeguchi said, and quickly left the room.

“The potions are ready.” Oki called from where he’d kneeled down beside the cauldrons.

“Yeah, these too.” Suyama added, lifting the lid from one of the potions.

“The talismans are ready too.” Nishihiro started passing out pieces of parchment to each of them quickly.

“What are these for?” Hanai asked, accepting his and scanning the paper scribbled with black and blue ink.

“Protection. The shields should work just fine, but in case…” He trailed off. “They serve even with the shields, since they hide most of the magic in our bodies, and like that they make the wards even better.” He explained, taking one for himself after passing one to each of them. “You have to keep it with you at all times, so you can fold it and put it in your pocket or something like that.”

“The shields are working, even stronger that before. Good job, Mihashi.” Sakaeguchi burst into the room, still carrying the momentum from his run downstairs, and Mihashi blushed happily. “Are the potions done?” he asked, grabbing his own talisman and putting it in his pocket.

“Yeah, they’re ready.” Oki grabbed one of the cauldrons with ease and hauled it to the centre of the room, Tajima and Suyama doing the same.

“Okay, get here then, we should put them all in bottles so that we can carry a few.” Sakaeguchi instructed, and walked towards the corner of the room where there were several glass vials.

“Let’s pour them first and then we can explain what they do.” Oki suggested, Sakaeguchi nodding his agreement, and quickly they all started filling the small flask with the different potions, soon having the floor full of the little bottles, all brimming with separate, glimmering potions.

“Each one of us should take at least three of each.” Nishihiro mused out loud.

“Yeah, but first comes the explanation. This one” Sakaeguchi held out a hand towards the cauldron with the yellow potion. “It’s a healing potion, this one you should take two vials just in case. This one” he pointed to the maroon liquid “It’s not exactly dangerous, since it only affects magical creatures, non-human to be exact. It causes a kind of petrification, so that’s three vials of each. These two are actually the most powerful and dangerous. This” Sakaeguchi held a flask with a lavender potion “Works as an acid, so be careful if you need to use it. And this” he showed them the last, silvery potion “Causes incredibly painful wounds in the body, and it’s like a poison when in contact with blood, so be careful too.” He put down the flask and sighed. “Honestly, it would be better if we didn’t have to use these at all, but just in case… be careful, all of you.”

“I have a question.” Tajima raised his arm in the air as if he were in class and Sakaeguchi smiled.

“Go ahead.”

“Why are we getting these potions if we’re not fighting the dragons?”

“Like Sakaeguchi said, just in case. In an ideal scenario, the dragons just pass and don’t notice us, but if something else were to happen, then we best be prepared.” Suyama explained, and Tajima nodded in understanding.

“All these potions were chosen specifically because they work on dragons. If we were facing off against, say, a gaki, then we would use other potions, but that doesn’t mean these ones are not dangerous to other creatures. The acidic one will still work no matter if it’s a dragon, a dryad or a demon.” Oki explained, his face serious.

“What’s a gaki?” Hanai asked, and Nishihiro was about to respond when Izumi released a groan.

“Time’s up, there coming.” They muttered, and all the others quickly stood up.

“How long until they pass through the portal?” Suyama asked, stuffing his pockets with the different potions.

“A minute or two, no more than that.” Izumi replied, and then grimaced in pain, holding their head.

“Izumi?” Sakaeguchi asked in worry, but the other waved him off.

“I’m fine, it’s just… the waves are too strong.”

“Ah! My head!” Tajima grabbed his head as well, pressing both of his hands against his temples.

“T-T-T-tajima-kun?!” Mihashi asked in worry, his hands gripping the front of his sweater tightly.

“It’s fine, Mihashi. It’s just the waves from the portal. It’ll pass once the dragons are done through it.” Suyama explained, resting his hand on Tajima’s back.

“Don’t worry Mihashi, I’m fine” Tajima gave a strained smile, hand still in his forehead.

“Tajima-kun is…” Mihashi said, shoulders still raised in anxiety, but then both Tajima and Izumi sagged.

“It passed” Tajima sighed in relief, giving his forehead a last rub before lowering his arm.

“The dragons are here.” Izumi announced, likewise resting back onto the couch.

“Are they too far?” Abe asked, walking towards the window.

“Not much, but they’re high enough that you won’t be able to see them. They’re going over the clouds.” Izumi explained, eyes still closed.

“When there were dragons still on this realm, there used to be massive migrations, where thousands of dragons travelled from one part of the world to other during the different seasons.” Nishihiro commented.

“Why aren’t there any more dragons in here?” Hanai asked curiously but glancing nervously at the window where Abe still stood.

“They were killed. The ones that lived here where not that much dangerous with a few exceptions of course, the Yamata-no-Oraichi being one. The most powerful dragons were slayed by the gods, and the lower ones were killed by knights and other humans, witches included.” Oki chimed in, and Nishihiro nodded.

“There used to be a witch family, here in Japan, they had a great coven, but they practically made a sport out of hunting dragons.”

“Not to mention that dragon parts are really good potion ingredients, really sought after. So in that era, when killing a dragon they gained not only the prestige and glory of killing a dragon, but they also could become rich by selling its body.”

“Sounds like the perfect deal.” Mizutani commented, but Sakaeguchi shook his head.

“The dragons left the realm because of the extreme amounts of hunt they suffered. And because of that, they also evolved and became more powerful, leading all the way to the current breed of dragons. A normal human couldn’t even get close to one of these dragons, and an ordinary witch could end up killed. They could only be slayed by a really powerful witch.”

“In short, they developed weapons against the hunt. Dragons of old didn’t have the power to segregate poison or other things, now the majority of them can do it.” Suyama said, looking grim.

“Well, this just keeps getting better and better.” Abe muttered, coming back from his perch on the window.

“Leave it to humanity to screw thing up for the other generations.” Hanai commented, and Izumi snorted.

“It’s in the human nature, to destroy things. And if said things leave and come back to kill the ones that  tried to destroy them before, then well, it’s not like we can blame them, is it?” Oki smiled sadly.

“They’re about ten minutes away from flying the nearest of us.” Izumi muttered from the couch.

“How long did you say they were going to stay here, Izumi?” Sakaeguchi asked, and Izumi shook his head.

“About an hour, maybe half if we are lucky. The bulk of the horde will pass a bit later than the others, since they’re the biggest dragons they’re also sort of slow, but-” Izumi cut themselves off, and their eyes widened in fear, blood quickly dripping out of their nose.

“Izumi, hey. Izumi!” Mizutani was the first to run to their side, Suyama following close behind, but they didn’t get to lay Izumi down on the couch when they awoke again, face pale beneath their freckles and eyes wide and scared.

“Fuck no. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” They cursed, wiping the blood that threatened to drip into their mouth before speaking. “It’s a trap. It fooled us.” They managed to get out between pants.

“Fooled us? Why? Izumi, what is it?” Sakaeguchi asked frantically, kneeling in front of the psychic.

“It’s just a cover, the damn thing used the dragons as a cover so that we would get distracted and not notice it and plan ahead.” Izumi spoke, their eyes wide. “A horde of monsters it’s coming straight to us.”

* * *

 

“What do you mean by that?” Nishihiro asked after the tense pause, all of the others too stunned to react just yet.

“I mean exactly what I said. The bastard sent the dragons to distract us and then it sent an entire horde of monsters to ambush us.” Izumi said, wiping a stray drop of blood from their nose.

“So… the dragons weren’t the treat?” Oki asked weakly, his face white as a sheet.

“And who is ‘it’ by the way?” Hanai asked this time, but Izumi shook their head.

“I have no idea, but when I find it I’m gonna rip it a new one.” They muttered darkly, although some of the edge on their voice was alleviated by the fact they were still obviously shaken, the blood now going down their lips a stark contrast against their pale face and blue eyes.

“What is coming, then?” Sakaeguchi spoke for the first time since the announcement.

“Goblins, lots of them, gaki and something else I can’t really identify.”

“How many?”

“A hundred, maybe more.”

“Then it’s good we have all of these potions.” Sakaeguchi said tiredly, his face grim.

“You mean, we’re going to fight?” Abe asked, eyebrows raised.

“There’s no other choice. Izumi says they’re coming straight at us, either we fight or we leave them kill us.” Sakaeguchi looked tired beyond his years, his energy all but drained.

“Guess we really have no other choice then.” Nishihiro uttered, also looking pale.

“Do you guys have a baseball bat? I forgot mine at home.” Tajima asked suddenly, looking at them in question.

“Uh, I have one. Why do you want it?” Hanai inquired in confusion.

“If I’m gonna fight then I rather have one at hand, I’m better with a bat that with other thing.” Tajima shrugged, not looking scared in the least.

“You’re going to fight them with a baseball bat? Are you crazy?” Izumi asked, their face surprised.

“Maybe. I know I have a better chance with a bat though, I’m not enthusiastic about dying, and I’ve been handling bats ever since I have memory.”

“Hanai, can you lend him your bat then?” Sakaeguchi asked, and the shaven headed boy nodded. “Okay then, all of us should prepare to fight as quickly as we can and let’s meet back up here in a few minutes.” The blond witch instructed, and they nodded before scurrying out of the room.

“Hey, Suyama! Where’re our things?” Tajima asked following the taller boy, Mihashi close behind.

“In the second floor, where the bedrooms are. I’ll take you if you want.” The boy offered, and Tajima grinned.

“Thanks!” he said as he followed the other up the stairs, and the witch stopped in front of the last two doors of the upper corridor.

“Here are your things Tajima, and on the room across are Mihashi’s.” the boy supplied, and the two witches thanked him before he disappeared back down the stairs.

“Let’s go get my things first and then we can go get yours, yeah Mihashi?” the tanned boy asked, and the other nodded shakily before they went into the room together. “Woah, they sure have cozy rooms.” Tajima whistled as they entered, his eyes darting through everything from the bed to the dresser. He quickly spotted his bag lying against the foot of the bed, and as he walked to it he saw another thing that picked his attention.

“Emi!” he exclaimed when he saw the napping fox stretched in the bed. Mihashi quickly stumbled over, and stood by the side as the small animal opened her eyes. “I was wondering where you’d ran off to, good to see you found a nice spot to sleep, huh?” the fox blinked lazily and rolled over on the bedspread. “Listen, Emi. Something’s going down right now, an army of things is heading this way, and we have to go out and stop it before they reach us.” The tanned boy said, and the fox quickly sprung to her feet while the boy shook his head. “No, I know you want to help but it’s too dangerous, and I won’t have you getting in the middle of it, okay? So you just stay here and help guard the house, that way you’ll do something as well.” The fox tried to protest, her fur standing almost on end, but the witch paid no attention to her, and instead focused on his bag, ruffling through it and quickly taking out a pair of gloves, setting it back on the floor and nodding to Mihashi as he headed to the door, but the fox jumped aggressively on the bed, forcing him to look at her once more.

 “Emi, I told you already, you’re not going out. Please just listen to me this once, okay? I’ll be fine, I promise.” Tajima sent a final smile to the angry animal on his bed before he quickly went out of the room and closed the door, Mihashi standing beside him. “Sorry Mihashi, I guess I dragged you into this mess, huh?” Tajima leaned against the wall as if he were tired, smiling with not a spark of happiness beneath it.

“No! Tajima-kun is… I’m… it’s… I don’t…” Mihashi stumbled over his words, trying to make the other understand that _it was fine, he didn’t drag him into anything, he came along willingly, Tajima had done nothing but be kind to him, and he would gladly keep following him_. It must have shown on his face, since Tajima’s next smile was a little less strained, more sincere and Mihashi felt a wave of relief at having cleared the matter.

“Thanks Mihashi, I really mean it. Now! Let’s go get your things, yeah? What do you need by the way?” The boy pushed out of the wall with a small leap, following the ginger into his room this time.

“Just… the stick… and a few… crystals.” Mihashi opened the door and spotted his bag in the same place Tajima’s had been, placing it on the bed to search through it.

“Crystals? What for?” Tajima asked, throwing himself into the boy’s bed and looking at him curiously.

“Agate and… amethyst and…” Mihashi trailed off, finally retrieving a new stick of charcoal as well as a clinking white fabric bag.

“You got everything you need?” Tajima asked, rising to his feet when Mihashi nodded rapidly. “Let’s go back down then.” The freckled boy led the way down the stairs and into the living room, where everyone was there already.

“Now that we’re all here, I think we should decide who actually goes out to fight.” Sakaeguchi said from his place on the floor.

“I’m going!” Tajima raised his arm, waving it over his head.

“I-I-I… going… too!” Mihashi chirped from beside the other boy, and Sakaeguchi frowned a little.

“Mihashi, you too? Are you sure? You must be still tired from the spell.”

“I can… fight!” the boy exclaimed once more, and Sakaeguchi sighed.

“I think we should all go out, except for Izumi.” Nishihiro commented, and Sakaeguchi nodded this time.

“I think it would be wise if Abe and Hanai stayed here as well.” Oki added, looking at the mentioned boys briefly.

“You need us though, don’t you?” Abe asked, looking straight at Sakaeguchi, who shook his head.

“Oki’s right, you two should stay here, you don’t have magic to protect yourselves out there.” He sighed once more before nodding his head. “Okay then, Izumi, Abe, Hanai and Suyama stay here, and the rest of us go out of the warded perimeter to find the monsters. Anyone have any complaints?” he asked, and smiled when no one spoke. “Let’s all get the vials we’ll need then.” They nodded and walked to the centre of the room, picking up the potions.

“If only it would stop raining so much. It’s going to be a pain fighting out there soaking.” Nishihiro said as he got up from where he’d been crouching on the floor picking up his bottles.

“Oh! Mihashi can help with that!” Tajima perked up, a flask dangling from his hands.

“How?” Oki asked, standing up to pocket his flasks.

“With the rune! You know, the one I had earlier. Mihashi can draw one for each of us and that way we won’t get wet, right Mihashi?” the ginger boy nodded quickly, and Tajima grinned at the others.

“Are you sure you can do it, Mihashi? We don’t want to tax your magic before we actually go out.” Sakaeguchi said, looking at the boy worriedly.

“It’s!... no problem!” the witch replied, standing up so quickly he almost fell right back.

“Okay then, if you say so.” Sakaeguchi nodded his consent after looking closely at the boy, and Tajima whooped before standing in front of Mihashi, who retrieved an almost spent piece of charcoal and pressed it to his forehead.

“How long do these runes last?” Mizutani asked, looking over Mihashi’s shoulder as he traced lines on the tanned boy

“A-about an ho-hour!” the witch finished the first rune and turned, Mizutani smiling as he nodded for Mihashi to place the rune.

“If we’re lucky, it shouldn’t take longer than an hour.” Nishihiro said, standing beside Oki to wait for his turn.

“You guys can do it in less, I’m sure.” Suyama smiled from where he stood beside the couch, Izumi nodding tiredly along.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come along?” Hanai asked from his perch on a chair.

“It’s better if you stay here. We can’t protect you out there, it’s too dangerous.” Sakaeguchi replied as he watched Mihashi draw on Oki’s forehead.

“You can help Suyama in here, as well as make sure nothing comes pass the shield.” Nishihiro added.

“How long until they get here, Izumi?” Sakaeguchi asked when Mihashi started to draw on Nishihiro’s forehead, turning to look at the psychic.

“Five minutes.” They replied, looking a bit less tired.

“That gives us enough time to cross the stream and wait out of the shield. We don’t want to lead them here.” Nishihiro said, and Oki nodded.

“It’s best if we stop them before they spot the house.”

“Would it be safe to go into the woods, though? Last time I checked, the dryads weren’t happy at all.” Mizutani chimed, looking a bit scared.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of dryads.” Tajima grinned, and Mizutani gave a squawk but Izumi interrupted before he could reply.

“They’re not going to be a problem. Most of them are scared out of their wits right now, I doubt they’ll oppose to you fighting the monsters.”

“Try not to harm any trees though, you don’t want an angry dryad coming after you in a sea of other monsters.” Suyama added, and the others nodded.  

“Are we done, then?” Sakaeguchi asked, inspecting the others and their newly made runes.

“Ah! Tajima, here.” Hanai handed him the shiny aluminum bat, Tajima accepting it with a grin.

“Thanks! I’ll take care of it.” He swung it a few times, getting used to the weight before nodding and placing it against his leg to slip on his gloves.

“I! I… have… the…um…” Mihashi stammered, looking at everyone briefly before setting his eyes on the floor and raising the white bag slightly.

“What’s that, Mihashi?” Nishihiro asked curiously, and the ginger haired boy perked up.

“It’s! crystals!” he exclaimed, and quickly opened the bag to show its contents.

“Oh, what are those for?” Hanai asked in interest.

“For! Protection! And… focus!” Mihashi replied, and quickly walked to the window and placed a few crystals on it, before going to Izumi and handing them a purplish one.

“Thanks Mihashi.” They smiled at the other, and Mihashi blushed a bit before nodding and scurrying back to Tajima’s side, handing him a crystal.

“Oh! This one’s different form the other. What’s this for?” Tajima asked as he inspected the orange, roughly shaped stone.

“It’s! Carnelian!” Mihashi chirped and Nishihiro nodded in understanding.

“Magical shielding. It makes sense, so that you’re not overwhelmed when we’re out there.”

“Overwhelmed?” Mizutani asked in confusion.

“Yeah, Tajima can read minds, right? That’ll protect him from the waves of the monsters.”

“Ooh, I see.” Mizutani nodded, then blinked in surprise when Mihashi offered him a crystal. “For me?”

“It’s! Bloodstone! For fire!” Mihashi exclaimed and Mizutani smiled.

“Thanks Mihashi!” he pocketed the stone as Mihashi bounded over to Sakaeguchi.

“What’s this one for?” Sakaeguchi asked, smiling as he took the small item from Mihashi.

“It’s! Amber! Protection!” the ginger boy said and turned to Nishihiro, handing him another stone.

“Onyx.” Nishihiro smiled, taking the stone from Mihashi. “Thank you.” The ginger boy nodded quickly and turned to Oki, handing him a sparkling white stone.

“Agate!” he exclaimed happily.

“It’s also for protection.” Nishihiro clarified, and Oki nodded, smiling.

“Thank you, Mihashi.” The ginger boy blushed happily before setting the bag of crystals down and standing by Tajima again.

“Let’s go then.” Sakaeguchi commanded, and together they filed out of the room, followed by the good luck wishes of the ones that stayed behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say i'm sorry but i'm not lol  
> please leave a kudo and/or a comment if you like this fic, i'm having some troubles writing recently and all of your comments help so much   
> see you next time!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: gore and explicit descriptions of violence  
> here we are! the action bits of the fic, yaaay! i tried my hardest writingthis, i hope you like it  
> thank you so much for your lovely comments, they really helped me get this chapter out   
> enjoy!!

“Man, they sure are taking their sweet time.” Mizutani whined, lying his back against a tree only to stumble back forward when the tree rumbled, the angry dryad glaring at him from their perch between the leafy branches.

“Anyone who heard you would think you’re actually anxious to get fighting.” Nishihiro muttered dryly, and the red haired boy blinked.

“It’s not that, it’s just that Mihashi’s runes last for an hour, yeah? It would be bad if they stopped working when we’re still fighting.”

“And I’m booored” Tajima whined as well, swinging his bat restlessly.

“You shouldn’t be expending your strength yet, Tajima.” Sakaeguchi observed, watching their surroundings anxiously.

“For me, it’s better if they don’t come at all.” Oki voiced, following Sakaeguchi’s example and glancing around warily.

“You guys are no fun.” Tajima pouted, swinging his bat even faster.

“Izumi did say that it was five minutes, but maybe we’re not far enough out of the shield for them to notice us?” Nishihiro pondered, ignoring Tajima’s previous statement.

“I can’t feel them though, I should be able to feel them when they’re close, right?” Tajima spoke again, but Sakaeguchi shook his head.

“Not necessarily. If we take into account that whatever it was that sent them hid the fact that they were coming for hours, then… It wouldn’t surprise me if they had some kind of cover to make a surprise attack either.”

“If I were the one organizing this attack, then that’s definitely what I would do.” Mizutani chimed, now looking a tad nervous.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t take us entirely by surprise though, that wouldn’t be n-” Tajima started, but then cut himself off, snapping his head to look straight forward.

“Uh, Tajima?” Oki asked hesitantly, and the tanned boy gave a smirk.

“Guess it failed to be a surprise attack, huh? Get ready, they’re coming.” The short boy said seriously, lowering his body into a defensive stance and pointing his bat to where sounds were coming from, now audible to all of them.

Suddenly, numerous roars and awful shrieks filled the air, and thundering steps shook the earth as the witches took their places, all spread apart forming some kind of human barricade to stop the monsters from advancing.

“Tried to cover it but didn’t count on the monsters being so loud.” Nishihiro guessed, cringing at the sheer volume of the stampede. With a deafening roar, the horde of goblins finally came into view, stomping over the plants and crashing against trees, roaring and showing their rotting teeth in their big mouths.

“Ugh, it had to be these things. I hate them.” Oki said, shivering and taking a second to touch his nose, as if to try and cover the decaying smell coming from the creatures.

The swarm of monsters approached quickly, trampling the grass and tearing the herbs that grew wildly, though some of them who tripped on stray roots and even their own feet, were quickly crushed by the onslaught of goblins from the back, nevertheless the first of them cut ground rapidly, but as soon as the first lines were within attacking distance, a sudden beam of light broke through the forest roof, and the ones in front disintegrated with pained groans, leaving nothing but smoking piles of ash on the moist earth.

“Nice, Sakaeguchi” Nishihiro offered, and the blond boy only nodded in acknowledgment, his magic taking a toll from the effort of making light appear from thin air. But the mob of creatures was not deterred, and the goblins kept advancing without minding the piles of ash from their fallen first ranks, instead plunging forward to finally meet the witches.

The boys surged to meet them without hesitation, all of them deploying different kinds of magic to block the goblins from getting past their defensive barrier, and the goblins seemed content with attacking them instead of keep marching, soon enough they engulfed the witches, separating them further along the forest.

Mihashi was led apart from the others as the goblin he was up against pushed him backwards, forcing him to stumble his way through the forest floor, desperately avoiding the claws that tried to grab his face at the same time he avoided tripping against roots. Finally finding his balance, he trust his arm forward and pushed the goblin with a surge of magic, barely registering the pile of dust that formed when the creature collided with a tree before another one took its place, pouncing at him quickly.

He managed to duck just in time, and the monster sailed over his head, accidentally crashing against another one that was creeping up behind him and causing it to turn into dust while the pouncing one stood dazedly from the dirt. Mihashi took advantage of the distraction and quickly muttered a spell to form a few balls of dirt, compacting them into solid projectiles and attacking the goblin with them, turning it into dust before it could react.

Turning in time just as another three goblins marched towards him, the witch used his power to attract the dirt missiles and blasted one of the goblins with the dirt spheres while he trust his other arm forward and made the second creature levitate and slam into the last one, turning into dust as they both slammed into a tree.

Panting raggedly, he turned around, senses on edge, but relaxed when he saw no other immediate treat, instead he rushed through the trees toward where he could hear the shouts from the other witches, all engaged into combat with at least two goblins. Running, he trust his arm forward and blasted with air the two goblins that crawled towards Sakaeguchi, sending them through the air, one got caught in between the branches and the other plummeted down into another of its kind.

“Hey Mihashi! Where’ve you been?” Tajima asked conversationally as he struck goblin after goblin with his bat, making a sickening, wet thud before they turned into ash.

“Been! Away! The… goblin!” Mihashi chirped in between pants, joining the fight once more and quickly taking down a few more monsters.

“Haha! That’s Mihashi for you!” Tajima kept plummeting trough the masses, the creatures turning into dust when the bat collided with such strength against their bodies.

“Mihashi, Tajima! How are you two holding up?!” Sakaeguchi asked as he wandered closer to the other two, blasting the goblins with beams of strong light.

“We’re fine! How many of those d’you think there are?” Tajima asked as Mihashi pushed a goblin his way and he hit the creature with his bat, turning around and hitting another one as the previous one turned into dust.

“I don’t think too much more, they seem to be getting less and less!” Sakaeguchi answered, ducking as one of the creatures leapt at him, its claws barely avoiding his cheek. Tajima whistled in understanding, and plummeted another couple of goblins as Nishihiro and Oki appeared suddenly, each fighting against two goblins.

“Have you guys seen Mizutani?!” Nishihiro yelled, blasting a goblin with a gust of air.

“He was pushed back by these things!” Oki answered, throwing one of the purple vials when the goblins in front of him crashed, melting them together with the acid.

“In which direction?!” Sakaeguchi asked, pivoting on his heel to catch the goblin that slid away from the light.

“The same as Mihashi!” Oki replied, skirting away from the claws of one of the goblins. Sudden shrieks came from the appointed direction, and smoke followed a few goblins that made a run for it, but were quickly engulfed by small balls of fire that extinguished as soon as the creatures died.

“Hey guys!” Mizutani appeared from the smoke, some of it clinging to his hands as he formed another ball of fire and sending a goblin crashing into the ground as it burst into flames.

“We were wondering where you’d run off to!” Tajima exclaimed as he and Mihashi finished off another handful of goblins, and then ran forward to help Oki.

“I got dragged by these thing! They’re so dumb, they killed themselves trying to get me!” Mizutani replied, quickly raising a wall of fire in the ground where the goblins Nishihiro was fighting stood, and they shrieked before blowing up into dust.

“Thanks for that.” Nishihiro said, stopping to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“No problem.” Mizutani grinned, and turned around just in time to see Mihashi raining dirt bullets into the last living goblin.

“I think that’s all of them.” Sakaeguchi leaned on his knees to catch his breath, tired from the amount of magic he’d used.

“Are y-you all… okay?” Mihashi asked as he turned around, eyes wide as he surveyed the others.

“Just fine!” Tajima waved his bat a bit before leaning on it a bit.

“That was it?” Mizutani asked, and startled when Nishihiro shook his head.

“Not even close, Izumi said there were gaki and something else they couldn’t identify.”

“Let’s just hope is not banshees, god I hate those things.” Sakaeguchi said as he straightened and gave Mihashi a shaky smile.

“How do we deal with gaki?” Mizutani asked once more, looking confused.

“Don’t get close to it.” Oki said seriously, peering into his pocket to check on his potions.

“Yeah, those things will eat anything they can so don’t get close.” Nishihiro nodded, and then looked at Tajima. “You probably should stay behind now, the bat won’t do you any good when leading with gaki.”

“Yeah, okay.” Tajima muttered and stood beside Oki.

“I think Mizutani, Mihashi and I should go on the offensive, and Sakaeguchi can blind them from the back.” Nishihiro suggested, and the others nodded their agreement.

“So, we’ve got a formation for this one, try not to break it if possible.” Sakaeguchi said as he stood beside Tajima and Oki, while Nishihiro stood a few meters in front with Mizutani and Mihashi at his sides.

“They’re coming.” Tajima announced suddenly, and through the bushes appeared six hairless things, with big, salivating mouths and huge eyes surrounded by purple skin.

“Those things are so gross.” Mizutani muttered as the gaki charged forward, moans of hunger ripping their throats, their blank eyes fixed on the witches. The red haired witch raised another wall of fire that covered two of the gaki, who quickly burned to a crisp, but the other four avoided it and ran to encounter the witches.

Mihashi used the petrified dirt once more, nailing another gaki in the middle of the head and pushing it back into the fire, but the second one opened its mouth wide and swallowed the ball of dirt without ceasing its run.

“That’s really creepy.” Tajima laughed, eyes fixed on the oncoming monsters, hands fidgeting in the bat handle, itching to go and fight. Nishihiro blasted the closer one, sending it backwards into the gaki behind it, and Mizutani quickly moved the fire wall with a twist of his wrist.

“Watch out!” Sakaeguchi cried out, quickly trusting his hands forward to shot a beam of light straight at the last gaki’s eyes, blinding it just in time for them to jump out of his way.

“Why is this thing so fast?!” Mizutani screamed frantically, and he used the distraction to throw fire balls at the blind gaki, who howled in pain before falling dead.

“What the hell, something’s coming really fast!” Tajima yelled, and they all turned to see humanoid shapes burst through the trees, stumbling at great speed, closing in on the stunned witches.

“What the heck are those things?!” Mizutani panicked, Mihashi and him quickly hitting the black corpses with fire and stones.

“Nuribotoke” Nishihiro answered grimly, raising a strong wind to slow the monsters a little.

“How do we deal with them?!” Tajima asked through the roaring of wind and fire.

“You can hit them, but don’t let them touch you or you’ll become one as well!” Nishihiro yelled back, and Tajima answered with a whoop as he bounced forward, quickly hitting the nearest creature on the head with his bat.

“Oki, can you kill the one on the left?!” Sakaeguchi asked, keeping his hands forward as he shot small beams of light, trying to hit the creature’s eyes.

“Got it!” Oki grabbed another purple vial, throwing it with his left hand and hitting the creature straight on its chest, sending it backwards as it howled in rage.

“Mihashi, look out!” Nishihiro called urgently, and the ginger boy turned to face one of the blackened corpses, only managing to drop into the ground as the creature made a grab for his face, its eyeballs dangling from their socks and turning as if to look for him.

“Mihashi!” Sakaeguchi screamed this time, turning to look at him as he rolled on the floor, trying to escape from the Nuribotoke and instead finding himself trapped between two more.

“Mihashi! No!” Sakaeguchi tried to run to him as the creatures lunged at him, but was stopped as the Nuribotoke he’d been blinding charged forward and almost grabbed him, and he scrambled back to regain his balance.

“Mihashi, get out of there!” Oki yelled in panic, trying to run to the ginger boy as well when another corpse threw itself into his way.

Mihashi was frozen in fear, watching helplessly as the black, putrid hands lowered, trying to grab him, and on instinct he closed his eyes, slamming his closed fist into the earth, making wide fissures appear and swallow the nuribotokes whole before closing again. He scrambled backward, still lying on the floor, breathing heavily and eyes wide.

“Mihashi!” Nishihiro finally managed to come to his side, keeping two of the corpses at bay with a strong gust of wind. “Are you okay?!” he screamed, and the ginger boy managed to nod through his daze, fighting to stand on his shaky legs. Abruptly, a wave of fire charred the blackened creatures, and Nishihiro lowered his arms in favor of helping Mihashi stand up.

“Something’s coming again!” Tajima yelled from where he’d stood, fighting the corpses with extreme agility, and they looked at the shaking bushes to see a handful more of the Nuribotoke as well as some strange, weasel like creatures.

“What the hell?!” Mizutani squawked, turning to face the nuribotoke currently running towards him, throwing fire balls at great speed.

“Watch your feet! Those are kamaitachi! They have sharp claws!” Nishihiro warned as he formed another gust of air, shoving a few creatures back by the force of it. Mihashi walked from behind him, and kneeled on the ground in the middle of the clearing, looking down in concentration as he willed his power to surge.

“Mihashi?!” Sakaeguchi inquired, and gasped in amazement as Mihashi looked forward, his eyes bright with light, fixed forward.

“Woah! This is amazing!” Tajima laughed, hitting one of the wailing, squirmy little weasels that now floated in mid-air.

“Get the kamaitachi out first! Mihashi can’t keep this up for too long!” Sakaeguchi commanded, and Mizutani directed his fire to make a wall, Nishihiro pushing the floating weasels into it.

“Tajima!” Mizutani screeched, and the tanned boy looked at him before glancing at the wall and grinning, hitting the kamaitachi with his bat and sending them flying into the wall of fire. The writhing little weasels started dropping in height, and while Tajima made a fast job of hitting the most he could into Mizutani’s fire, the other witches fought against the oncoming tide of nuribotoke drawing near from in between the bushes, trying at the same time to guard a tired, kneeling Mihashi who was trying his best to keep the kamaitachi in the air so that they couldn’t cut the other’s legs.

“Why do these things keep coming?!” Oki asked in panic as he threw another purple vial at a fast nuribotoke, who stumbled and fell to the floor.

‘“Mihashi! That’s fine, you can stop now!” Sakaeguchi yelled, turning around to find the ginger haired witch with blood pouring down his nose, his breathing much too elaborate.

“Can’t you keep going a bit more?! There’s not many of them left!” Mizutani requested, eyes fixed on the blackened corpse that was making its way to him.

“No! Mihashi that’s enough!” Nishihiro exclaimed, making a complicated turn as he aimed his blast of wind to knock two nuribotoke into the fire, and hurrying to Mihashi, finding the witch shaking his head stubbornly, palms still pressed against the earth and his lower face tinted scarlet.

“Mihashi, hey. It’s okay, we can take care of the others, there’s just a handful left, you can stop now” Nishihiro kneeled in front of the other witch, gently prying his hands off of the earth and making him sit for a few seconds.

“Crap!” Tajima yelped when the kamaitachi he was about to hit suddenly dropped in front of his bat, and he stumbled forward, pushed by the momentum of his swing.

“Can one of you cover us? Mihashi’s too tired to fight!” Nishihiro called out, and Mizutani quickly ran towards them, forming a protective wall to cover them from the monster’s sight.

“What happened to Mihashi?!” Came Tajima’s screech through the fire, followed by a sickly thud of his bat colliding against a soft surface.

“He’s fine! He’s tired is all!” Mizutani answered, keeping the wall up with one hand as he started to shoot fire once more at a kamaitachi.

“Mihashi, here. Drink this.” Nishihiro offered one of his own golden vials, uncorking it and pushing it into the dazed witch’s hand, who obediently raised it to his lips and drank it in one long gulp. “You should stay seated for a few more seconds, after that the potion will kick in, but please try-“

“Nishihiro!” Mizutani interrupted, and the dark haired witch turned in time to see a couple of kamaitachi running forward quickly, followed by one of the remaining nuribotoke.

“Mihashi, stay here!” Nishihiro said quickly and stood up, running forward to face the briskly advancing monsters. “I’ll take the kamaitachi!” he called to Mizutani, who nodded and directed his fire spheres to the nuribotoke’s direction, while Nishihiro pushed the kamaitachi against a tree, making them wobble in their feet before advancing once more, and this time he sent them straight into the roaring fire, then turning to help Mizutani who was struggling to fend the advances of the nuribotoke, who kept dodging his attacks.

“Shit!” Tajima yelped in pain from the other side, and Mizutani’s eyes wavered to the direction of the scream, lowering the wall and taking his eyes off the monster for one second, but it was enough for it to pounce, launching straight into an unsuspecting Mizutani.

“NO! Mizutani!” Nishihiro yelled, trusting his arms forward to stop the nuribotoke in its tracks, but the creature continued its jump unperturbed, the blast of air passing below it. Without warning, several huge rocks raised from the edges of the clearing, and plunged into the airborne monster at great speed, one of them caving its head in as the other pushed its body into the remaining fire. Nishihiro turned slowly, seeing Mihashi standing once more, his arms stretched sideways and a furious expression on his face. “Mihashi?” he muttered weakly, and the ginger boy snapped to attention, his eyes losing their maniac glow.

“I-I-I…!” the boy stammered, eyes wide and scared while Nishihiro looked at him in shock, but a sudden shout made them turn their attention.

“Oki, watch out!” Sakaeguchi screamed desperately, and they snapped their heads to see Oki fighting two corpses as another one creeped on him from the back.

“Ahhh!” Tajima launched himself with a shout, bat colliding with the back of the hunched over nuribotoke with a crunch, dark blood splattering everywhere as the body hit the ground. “Hey Mihashi! You okay?!” the tanned boy asked, swinging his bat briefly before bringing it down to crush a kamaitachi against the ground.

“I’m! Fine!” Mihashi bounced over to Tajima, kicking a few kamaitachi out of his way when they tried to cut his legs. “Tajima-kun is…?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Tajima laughed as he swung his bat into one of Oki’s nuribotoke, then wincing a bit when he planted his right leg in the floor. “One of those things got me on the leg but I’m fine!” he promised with a grin, and Mihashi’s expression pinched a little before he turned and blasted the nuribotoke Sakaeguchi was fighting against a tree.

“Are there any more coming?!” Mizutani asked from where he was trying to shot a sneaky kamaitachi, who kept dodging the fire aimed its way.

“I don’t think so!” Sakaeguchi replied, taking a second to turn around in a circle when the kamaitachi he was fighting against finally dropped dead.

“I’m out of potions!” Oki exclaimed suddenly, backtracking into a tree as a nuribotoke closed in on him.

“Ah! Mihashi!” Tajima yelled, and the ginger boy turned in time to see a kamaitachi launching itself at the tanned boys face as another ripped the bat from his hands.

“Tajima!” Nishihiro shouted as Mihashi kneeled on the floor once more, simultaneously opening a gap on the floor that swallowed the nuribotoke about to reach Oki and sending a shock wave so powerful it sent the kamaitachi on Tajima reeling back, hitting the earth with a painful sounding snap.

“Mihashi! Soo cool!” Tajima exclaimed, raising his arm just in time to catch the bat the ginger boy floated to him from where it’d landed on the ground. The witch blushed in pleasure, and turned around with a happy expression, extending his palm forward in time to send back the nuribotoke that’d been advancing towards him, feeling a drop of sweat sliding from his upper lip.

“This are the last ones!” Sakaeguchi announced after he helped Mizutani with his kamaitachi, turning to look around to find Mihashi fighting against another one, while Nishihiro, Tajima and Oki were engaging a nuribotoke.

“Send it here, Mihashi!” Mizutani called as he set up a smaller wall of fire, and the ginger boy glanced upwards briefly before pivoting on his heel and kicking the kamaitachi onto the burning wall.

“Take that!” Tajima yelled as he swung his bat with enormous strength, hitting the black corpse on the back of its head and causing it to crumble instantly, not moving.

 The witches ceased their movements, straightening up from their doubled over defensive positions, panting raggedly as they looked at each other in excitement.

“It think those were the last.” Sakaeguchi said when they gathered in a misshape circle, and Tajima nodded in agreement. The others breathed a sigh of relief, and started to stretch and grin when suddenly Mizutani’s eyes were wide in fear.

“Mihashi, behind you!” he screamed, and the ginger boy managed to call a nearby branch just as the remaining nuribotoke pounced at his back, leaning it on the floor and jumping, swinging his whole body in a circle with the help of the tree branch, hitting the black creature with his extended feet just as it started to make a grab for him, sending it crashing against the earth where Mizutani threw several fire balls at it, making it catch on fire as soon as they touched its body.

Mihashi dropped from the branch, stretching his arms from the sudden burden of his weight while he looked at the burnt corpse.

“That was… unexpected.” Oki commented, eyes wide as he looked from Mihashi to Mizutani and then to the dead creature.

“That was so cool, Mihashi!” Tajima jumped on the boy, throwing his arm across his shoulders and ruffling his hair in congratulations as the ginger let out a breathy laugh, blushing happily.

“Did you see where that one came from?” Nishihiro inquired, a frown present on his face that only deepened when the others shook their heads.

“Maybe it wasn’t… dead?” Oki asked nervously, eyes tracing the form of all the other supposedly dead monsters, the others doing the same cautiously, waiting for another one to jump up and attack them.

“I think we should burn them, just in case.” Sakaeguchi offered. “It’s the best option, I don’t think the dryads in this part of the forest would be too pleased to find a mountain of dead monsters lying on their trees.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Mizutani, can you do it?” the blond witch asked the other, who smiled and gave a military salute.

“Leave it to me!”  he turned and started to shot bigger fire spheres at the remaining corpses, which caught on fire as soon as the projectile touched them, and then the fire went out when there was nothing else to consume, leaving only a charred pile of ash on the forest floor.

“I’ve been wondering for a while; why did the goblins turn immediately into dust but the others left a whole body behind?” Tajima asked curiously, turning around from where he’d been watching the red haired witch burn the dead creatures, Mihashi still trapped beneath his arm with his hair ruffled messy, eyes wide and a slightly red tint to his cheeks.

“Because goblins are mostly not from this realm.” Oki said absentmindedly, watching in mild horror as the different creatures burst into flames one after the other.

“Mostly?” Tajima parroted, both he and Mihashi tilting their heads in confusion.

“Yeah, goblins are originally from another realm, they came here like a plague a few centuries ago, but their numbers are so low now the initial goblin breed is almost extinct in here.” Nishihiro clarified as he put an arm around Oki’s shoulders and slowly turned him around, facing away from Mizutani and his task.

“There’s actually a breed of goblins from this realm, but they’re low in number as well, almost dying out completely since they live mostly in deserts and unpopulated places, so they have nothing to feed on.” Sakaeguchi added.

“Nothing t-to feed…?” Mihashi asked quietly and the blond witch nodded.

“Hm, since goblins feed on human flesh, they used to have a great population when humanity was scattered in tribes along the world, but now that mostly they live in cities or so, the goblins are dying since they can’t actually travel to a city, they’re too dumb to realize that humans are still alive, only living away from them.”

“I’m done!” Mizutani announced as he turned back around, scratching his nose and leaving a trail of soot on his cheek. “There sure were a lot of these things! I’m amazed that we didn’t trip on one as we fought.” The red haired boy gestured to the numerous piles of ash scattered all over the earth.

“I’m just going to…” Nishihiro released Oki, and with his arm forward and palm facing the mounts of ash, a gentle breeze fluttered, carrying the ash farther into the woods, dissolving the previous piles.

“We should go back now.” Sakaeguchi said, and the others nodded, starting the trek back to the house, Tajima dragging Mihashi under his arm and Nishihiro placing a gentle hand on Oki’s arm, helping him walk steadily through the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aren't you glad i didn't end this one in a cliff hanger? i was actually tempted to do so but then i reconsidered my life choices and it ended up like this  
> At the beginning i had no idea it'd be this gory and violent, i'm not sure what happened  
> it's been quite long since i last posted and i sincerely apologize for that, things have been quite rough for me and i'm kind of in a dark spot right now, but i'm trying my best to keep writing and updating regularly  
> As always comments and kudos are so very much appreciated, i wouldn't be writing this story if it weren't for you guys  
> You are totally welcome to come talk to me on twitter, i'm in there most of the time so if you want to ask something about the story or just anything at all, do feel free to do so! i'll be very happy if you do  
> see you next time!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please forgive me

“Do you think the others are okay? It’s been a long time.” Hanai asked anxiously from where he stood by the window.

“I’m sure they’re fine, they shouldn’t have had any troubles with the goblins.” Suyama smiled from where he’d been setting some of his medical supplies on a table by the couch he’d dragged into the room with the help of Abe and Hanai.

“Shouldn’t they be back by now, though?” Abe butted in, and Izumi sighed from where they were sitting on the other end of the couch.

“No, there were quite a lot of monsters, I wouldn’t be surprised if it took them another half an hour to wipe them out.”

“Are the dragons still passing? I haven’t seen another one in a while.” Hanai leaned as far as the closed window would let him, watching the clouded sky attentively.

“Yeah, not for much longer though. The first ones are already starting to pass through the portal, the rain’s become lighter, see?” Izumi stood up, stretching their legs.

“The portal? It’s open? How come you’re not in pain, then?” Abe asked, standing up as well and joining Hanai in the window.

“Both portals were opened at the same time, no one smart enough would open one and then the second, that would take way too much magic and time.” Izumi huffed, now stretching their arms over their head before plopping back into the couch.

“Are we going to see more of them, though?” Hanai asked, looking at the psychic.

“Maybe. The biggest ones should be passing now, since they’re heavier and can’t fly as fast or as high as the other, smaller ones, so maybe some of them will dip down the clouds once or twice.” Izumi shrugged, and Hanai’s eyes widened before he turned back to the window.

“Is the Yamato-no-Oraichi a big or a small dragon?” Abe asked, leaning beside Hanai.

“A big one, it’s got eight heads and eight tails.” Suyama replied as he joined them at the window.

“Yeah, but it should have passed already, otherwise the rain wouldn’t have let down. Besides, it’s an agile dragon, I’m sure it was flying way above the others.” Izumi replied, settling back comfortably into the couch and closing their eyes for a second before he lurched upward, startling the others.

“Izumi?” Suyama asked, and Izumi groaned in response.

“Why can’t Mizutani think a little lower, god.” They muttered, rolling their eyes. “They’re back.”

“I can see them! They just came out of the trees!” Hanai exclaimed, and Suyama rushed to the window before retracting his steps and instead going out of the room, the muffled sound of the door opening reaching them.

“I can’t see Tajima though.” Hanai frowned, squinting his eyes, trying to see through the fogged glass.

“Mihashi’s not there either.” Abe muttered.

“What?” Izumi stood up quickly, almost running towards the window to stand beside Hanai. A few seconds later, they sighed and just later a limping Tajima appeared, leaning heavily with his arm on Mihashi’s shoulders.

“I think he’s injured.” Abe said, trying to clean the glass with his sleeve.

“I’m going to go help Mihashi.” Hanai said, and walked fast out of the room under the suspicious stare of Abe and the smirk of Izumi.

“Look at him, trying to be the knight in shining armor.” Izumi muttered, still smirking when Hanai appeared outside, running through the garden to get faster to the edge of the forest

“What?” Abe asked in confusion, turning to face Izumi who laughed.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. We should go outside as well.” The psychic clapped a frowning Abe on the shoulder before making their way out of the room, followed by the scowling boy. They stopped at the opened back door where Suyama stood, the others coming closer and closer, seemingly anxious to get in the house. Nishihiro and Oki were the first to reach the door, and they smiled, Oki a bit shakily, and entered but didn’t go to the living room, instead, he rushed to the bathroom and Nishihiro smiled apologetically at them.

“Sorry, some things didn’t set well with him back at the forest.” He explained before hurrying after the other, entering the bathroom as well. The next to arrive was Mizutani, who smiled at Izumi and cleaned his feet at the small doormat before entering, heading for the living room without a word. Mihashi and Tajima came shortly after, the latter with an arm thrown over Hanai’s shoulders for support and followed by a worried Sakaeguchi, who closed the march.

“Did you guys see that? It was a really big dragon!” Tajima exclaimed as they reached the door, Mihashi exclaimed an awed echo of ‘dragon!’ as he helped the other get in.

“What happened?” Suyama asked as he closed the door and they followed the pair towards the living room, where Mizutani was already sprawled across the couch.

“There were kamaitachi, one of them got Tajima on the leg.” Sakaeguchi explained as he sat down heavily on the couch while Mihashi helped the freckled boy sit down.

“Tajima, let me see.” Suyama instructed as the other sat on the remaining couch, Mihashi climbing after him and sitting seiza on the cushions.

“Where are Oki and Nishihiro? I thought they’d come in before us.” Sakaeguchi asked, raising his head from where he’d been almost melted into the backrest.

“They did. Oki got sick and Nishihiro got him to the bathroom.” Abe explained, sitting beside the blond witch.

“Ugh, you guys smell, what the hell were you fighting?” Izumi walked away from where they’d been leaning against the couch Tajima and Mihashi were seated. “I know goblins can be foul, but not that much, no wonder Oki got sick.”

“Nuribotoke.” Sakaeguchi groaned from the couch, not bothering with looking this time.

“Ah, so those were the ones I couldn’t identify. You do reek of decaying corpses.” Izumi muttered, placing their sleeve covered hand on his mouth and nose.

“They were super fast! But I got them with the bat and splashed their brains! Right, Mihashi?” Tajima exclaimed, and Mihashi nodded excitedly.

“Tajima-kun and t-the others were…cool!” he crowed, stars in his eyes.

“You stink of burned meat too, what’s with that?” Hanai asked, sitting in the floor since all the other spots were occupied.

“Yeah, well, Mizutani had to burn the bodies so that the dryads don’t go complaining.” Sakaeguchi replied, finally looking a bit more composed and managing to support his head once more.

“Burning the bodies? That’s… awful.” Suyama looked up in surprise from where he’d been cleaning Tajima’s wound, his eyes wide.

“Yeah well, it was the right thing to do. We don’t want any angry dryads coming our way.”

“And that’s not to mention what other kind of awful things the stench of death could attract, we’re lucky as it is that the dragons were too far away to smell it, and that the rain helped as well.” Izumi added, tired of being on their feet and plopping down beside Hanai.

“Even so…” Suyama muttered, shaking his head before going back to tending Tajima’s injured leg.

“What about the dragons? Did they all pass already?” Sakaeguchi asked Izumi, turning his body in the couch to look at the dark haired psychic.

“Not yet, but they should be gone soon enough, maybe in ten minutes or so when the portal finally stretches to its maximum. All the dangerous ones have passed already though, they’re far away from here.” The psychic replied and Sakaeguchi sighed in relief.

“That’s good, it’s finally over.” He mumbled, leaning his head back against the couch and closing his eyes, looking about ready to pass out on the couch.

“That’s done, Tajima. You shouldn’t stress your leg too much for a couple of days to avoid reopening the wound but other than that, you should heal nicely.” Suyama interrupted the brief lull in the conversation as he stood up from the floor, gently placing Tajima’s outstretched leg on the cushions.

“You sure it’s okay? It looked quite bad.” Izumi dragged themselves over the carpet, peering at the other boy’s bandaged leg and poking at his knee with a finger.

“I’m fine! Good as new!” the tanned boy grinned brightly, and Suyama sighed.

“You should lay off the exercise for a couple of days at least, then we can completely heal the gash. It was quite deep, and you need rest for your body to work.”

“How did you even get injured? I thought you knew how to fight?” Hanai asked, eyebrows raised suspiciously.

“I know how to fight, okay! I was just… distracted, is all.” Tajima squawked indignantly, a small pout appearing on his lips.

“Distracted? How can you get distracted while fighting for your life?” Abe wondered in disbelief and the other boy bristled.

“You can! It happens sometimes!”

“My, my, Tajima. I would never have pegged you as the kind of person to get distracted by monsters.” Izumi said, wiggling their eyebrows and a shit eating grin on their face.

“Why… not? M-monsters are… scary.” Mihashi spoke, tilting his head to the side in confusion while the others looked at him in surprise before Tajima huffed out a laugh.

“They meant as in-”

“Tajima, no, just don’t.” Sakaeguchi interrupted, sighing tiredly as he leaned once more on the couch.

“Hey guys.” Nishihiro said as he came back into the room, looking tired and dishevelled with sooth on his cheek.

“How’s Oki?” Suyama asked when the brown haired with settled on the floor, lying like a starfish on the carpet.

“Puked his guts out and almost passed out but he’s fine now, lying down in his room. I told him to sleep and that I’d wake him up if something happened.”

“That’s good, the rest will help him settle.”

“Yeah, I hope so, because he’s gonna wake up hungry and I don’t think he’s going to like it if he has to throw up again.” Nishihiro muttered, eyes closed as he massaged his temples.

“There’s not supposed to be anything more happening now, just the portal closing in a few minutes and it’s best if Oki’s sleeping while it happens, or he’s gonna get dizzy all over again.” Izumi informed, receiving a confirmation groan from Nishihiro.

“We should all be in the same place when that happens, just in case. How long until it closes?” Sakaeguchi raised his head, blearily opening his eyes.

“About five minutes, shouldn’t take more than a couple of seconds for you guys.”

“What do you mean ‘for you guys’? is it going to be different for you?” Hanai asked, looking at all the witches in the room.

“Yeah, sort of. For me and Tajima at least, it’s gonna be similar to the opening of the portal, not quite so painful though.”

“I-i-i-is it g-going to… hurt?” Mihashi asked, his face going pale and the psychic smiled at him.

“Just a tiny bit, and not for quite so long.”

“B-but!-”

“Don’t worry Mihashi, I can take it!” Tajima grinned, ruffling the other’s hair and receiving an indignant squawk.

“If we’re all going to be together, where’s Mizutani?” Nishihiro asked, looking around the room once he sat up, popping the knots in his back.

“Dead, probably.” Izumi deadpanned, stealing a pillow from the couch to lie on the floor.

“He’s sleeping on the other couch.” Abe supplied instead, and Nishihiro nodded in understanding.

“He must be quite tired. But then again I guess we all are.”

“Why don’t you guys take one of those restoring potions you were talking about earlier?” Hanai asked, confused.

“God no, that’d be awful.” Izumi said from their perch on the floor, voice muffled by the cushion.

“Izumi means it’s not going to be nice in a while. The closing of the portal it’s likely to make us dizzy from all the energy returning to its original owners, and if we had magic on our systems while that energy returned, it can cause problems.” Suyama explained.

“What kind of problems?” the shaven headed boy asked.

“Projectile vomit.” Izumi turned around and stared at the ceiling.

“What are you guys even talking about?” Mizutani appeared from the edge of the other couch, hair sticking in every direction and face clouded with sleep.

“Just nice things, you know. Projectile vomit and the like.” Izumi turned around once more, trying to find a comfortable way of lying on the floor.

“Uh, okay?”

“Izumi that’s just gross.” Abe said, looking down at the psychic with a frown.

“You know you still love me.” Izumi replied, closing their eyes once more before groaning. “Here it comes guys, whoever has a weak stomach get the hell away from me because I refuse to get covered in puke.” The others grimaced in disgust at the words, but still settled down on the floor or couch respectively, bracing for the impact of returning energy.

The first sign was the slight distortion in the air, followed by an increase in the brightness of the candles in the room and then the fire dimmed, leaving the room gloomier than it was before.

“Fuck.” Izumi muttered at the same time Tajima yelped in pained surprise, both of them folding in on themselves, clutching at their heads.

“Izumi? You okay?” Mizutani approached them, his own hand to his forehead as if to protect it from the dull throbbing on his skull.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The psychic closed their eyes, wincing in pain. “Just a bit more. How’s Tajima?” they breathed out, finally opening their eyes to scan the room.

“Tajima is…”

“Mihashi?! Oi, Mihashi!” Tajima’s voice carried over Mizutani’s, drowning the rest of his words and sending a twinge of panic down everyone’s back.

“Mihashi! Mihashi what’s wrong?” Sakaeguchi rushed to the other’s witch side, skidding to a halt beside the couch.

“Tajima, what happened?” Suyama asked, kneeling besides Sakaeguchi in front of the passed out Mihashi.

“I don’t know! We were fine, he was worried about me and then suddenly his eyes rolled into his head and he fell!” Tajima panicked, eyes red from where some of the vessels had burst.

“Mihashi, can you hear me?” Suyama started checking on the other, pressing his hand against his chest and recoiling as if he’d been burned.

“What was that?” Sakaeguchi frowned, glancing worriedly at Suyama.

“I don’t know, it was just… nevermind, he’s breathing alright.” The medic answered, holding the tip of his finger against the other’s nose. “Nishihiro, can you please get me some…”

“Mihashi!” Sakaeguchi interrupted, reaching forward to hold the now convulsing boy, blood coming out of his nose.

“Abe? Are you okay? Oi, Abe!” Hanai’s voice ran through the room, and they turned in unison to see the shaven headed boy shaking Abe’s shoulders, who was staring straight forward as blood poured from his nose.

“Abe!” Nishihiro rushed from where he’d been kneeling on the carpet, stopping Hanai’s shaking and instead checking the other’s breathing. “Abe, can you hear me? Suyama, come here!” he called the taller witch, who looked between Abe and the convulsing Mihashi, unable to touch the latter.

“Go, I’ve got Mihashi.” Sakaeguchi ordered, and the medic nodded once before striding through the room and kneeling in front of Abe.

He pressed his palm to the other’s forehead, a soft light coming from the touch as Abe’s eyes closed slowly, and he swayed a bit in place before opening them again.

“Wha- what just happened.” He asked, eyes wide as he looked at the two witches in front of him and Hanai, who shrugged in response.

“Nishihiro, please stay here and make sure he doesn’t pass out. I’ll be right back.” Suyama asked, waiting for the other witch to nod before he stood up and walked back across the room.

“What the hell is happening?” Mizutani asked out loud, eyes wide as he took in everyone in the room.

“I have no idea. But I’m sure it bad, probably.” Izumi muttered before standing up and moving to Abe’s side.    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so short ugh i'm sorry i'll try to update soon to make up for it  
> no cliffhanger on the last one, yes cliffhanger on this one hehe i am Evil™ but now i've given you a excuse to come talk to me on twitter!! come along and say hi or kick my butt, either is fine  
> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS i swear i read all of them, i just don't answer because when i read them i turn into a blushing, happy pile of goo. You guys are too good to lil' ol' me.  
> As always! comments and kudos are very, very much appreciated, and please forgive me if you find typos i try my best to edit this monster of a fic all by myself since i don't have a beta reader, and some typos just draw on a moustache and slip right past my caffeine powered brain  
> see you next time!!~

**Author's Note:**

> This is totally unbeta'ed so any mistakes are fully mine, please feel free to point them out  
> hmu at [tumblr](http://nishinoya-senpaai.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/_zukiria), come scream with me on how much i love oofuri  
> Please drop a kudo or a comment if you liked it! I'm a attention dragon, i hoard all the comments and kudos and make a nest with them to use them as fuel to keep writing


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